My longtime readers won’t be surprised when I say I am appalled by Mark Zuckerberg’s defense of lies and fake news posted and promoted on his Facebook platform. He’s acknowledged they are there, that he knows foreign interests are using Facebook to plant false information, encourage lies and distortions, and support American white supremacists and hate mongers of all kinds. He knows about and allows political advertising that is false or misleading. He allows all of this and who knows what else in the name of “free speech.” His ethics and morality are comparable to those of Donald Trump, ie, nonexistent. What a massive crime it is to create something as far-reaching as Facebook but make no effort to control or police it.
Shame on Zuckerberg! I guess it’s just easier to sit back and do nothing while the dollars roll in.
(Want more of my views on Facebook?)
What’s the alternative, though? For him to censor?
If Twitter and YouTube can remove material they know to be false, so can he. As we all know, free speech doesn’t mean you can shout “fire” in a crowded theater.
Agreed. It just becomes such a fine line, though. Then you have to become the one who decides if it is straight up fake/false news or not. The person who posts can then argue that it is true, yada yada yada. Look, I’m not defending Facebook. But I can understand how/why they would want to just stay out of it. I think they should be more pro-active towards making sure political/newsworthy posts are true, but day-yamn — thinking of that whole process as a whole is, well, full of “what if’s”.
It just seems irresponsible (and lazy) to completely ignore a problem that is known to exist. Especially when our entire election system is being threatened by foreign interests.
Agreed. It’s a difficult position to be in and I’m glad I’m not the one having to make that decision.
I’ve hated Facebook since I first looked at it and found so-called friends posting about diaper changes. Really people? I avoided it for years, but it’s the only way I get to see pics of what the grandkids are up to… sigh. I’ve given up on Amazon as well…. it’s turned into another nightmare as far as I’m concerned. I do worry about this crazy world we’re leaving the little ones.
I shop online almost exclusively and I do like Amazon, although I try to be on the lookout for counterfeit products and fake reviews.
Although I prefer freedom to dictatorial edicts and unaccountable censorship, how would you screen 30,000,000 posts per second?
I’ve no idea. That’s Zuck’s problem. He created the monster. He’s responsible for controlling it. As I noted above, YouTube and Twitter are at least trying to address the problem.
As I recall, you have a son who has technical knowledge that is superior (to both of us)… Ask him what he would do and how long would it take before his solution was rendered obsolete ad infinitum.
Interesting idea. I’ll try to remember to ask him.
If the education system once again mandated grades K-12 vocabulary studies and actually taught how information could be slanted by emotionally charged words, denotations and connotations. AND if the curriculum mandated studies in persuasive methods/language and students practiced and spotted examples, then “fake news”, the media, marketing of ideas, and platforms like Facebooks and Twitter wouldn’t bother me so much as everyone would be able to evaluate and screen information….but…well, you know…
Do we dare limit and censor? Do just allow people to become dependent on others to evaluate? Sigh. (and groan)
Whatever education it takes for people to engage in critical thinking would be a huge step in the right direction.
“critical thing kin skills” was a big word for educators in the 80’s…then they did everything they could to stomp them down. Start with eliminating multiple choice tests, scripted lessons by teachers, chanting replies by students ( while those are cute and fun, that strategy should not dominate or be the only method used. Repeating back is the lowest form of learning information – parrots do as well)…back to essay/short answer questions and research papers..
It’s not rocket science – people/educators know exactly what they are and are not doing – all depends on the level of education dn outcome that is desired…..baaaaaa
Yep, you have to have learned something, at least a little bit, to write an essay answer or even a decent short answer. Parroting answers requires no understanding at all. (Ask any parrot!) But by all means let’s make those tests quick and easy to grade.
Union demands, yes, but also by the 90’s districts were finding new teachers were not trained as well as previously (poor reading, writing, composition skills, vocabulary skills themselves – analysis and able to grade essays? Poorly educated in the classrooms – downward spiraling)…scripted lessons provided a level of lesson consistency even if a low level.
What happened in teaching profession is what is happening in medical field now: women were in demand by companies trying to met new social quotas, teachers found they could earn more and have more command over their lives like being able to go have lunch in a nice place, have expense accounts, or even go to the bathroom as you wished – without the nightly/weekend grading and prep – or parents calling you/stopping you all the time with their “concerns” – or kids spitting, cursing, throwing chairs at you.
So the smart talented college grads found a better way to get the life they wanted.
A similar quality of life exit is occurring now in medicine with all the new health team providers concepts and the hospital mergers concerned about bottom lines not taking care of the ones who earn the money (or the patients) and then there’s the insurance companies practicing medicine.
Everyone though they could teach – medicine getting similar. (Did you know that some Ivy League medical schools now do not give any exams during the courses of studies…”too stressful and these students are motivated and do not need tests…”…which may be why so many fail their boards first time around? Scary, right?)
PAs, nurses, and technology can do it all, right?
Those that do not know history…
It is a downward spiral, as you said. Some of the poorly taught students of this generation will become the teachers of the next generation. And the doctors. Etc. And they’ll have to deal with the changing expectations of their employers and/or insurance companies. My PCP once told me that she used to encourage students to go into medicine, but not anymore. And she said if she had it to do over again, she wouldn’t go into medicine.
Sad truths I’ve also heard.
I wonder now if my parents looked at the younger generations and thought things were generally going downhill. That’s certainly how I feel. (Not with my grandchildren, of course, but overall.)
They say “every generation…” but THIS. So fast a slide after so much blood sweat and tears. (I really need to swat my spell check which is determined to “suggest”/auto correct so much of my writing…ugh. Please excuse dunderheaded errors)
I’d have sworn I responded to this yesterday. When WP dropped its spell checker, I tried Grammarly. It’s unobtrusive and checks for more than just WP. I’m very happy with it and suggest it to everyone.
I don’t know if this analogy will be understood in the context of this Facebook subject, but here goes…
Yelling at your toddler, “Don’t touch that stove-top!” isn’t nearly as effective as letting them touch it.
That sounds like the “natural consequences” theory of child-raising. And for the most part, I believed in it. However, we’ve seen the results of Facebook doing nothing and letting the public suffer the natural consequences — a good percent of the public is seeing and believing fake news, foreign-sponsored lies and propaganda, etc. There’s evidence that it skewed our last election. If true, that’s not acceptable.
Yes. We really are more capable of managing other people’s lives than they are. We must protect them from themselves. Without our help they will continue to make the same mistakes over and over.
I understand completely.
I appreciate your sarcasm, but apparently you give the general population more credit than I do.
I think we agree on everything except the proper training procedure.
“Logical consequences” is what I should have said above. I’m just afraid logical consequences, in this case, could end up destroying the country or at least any society I’d want to live in.