The Lameness of Facebook Groups

 Ban Social Media

Has the time come to just ban social media? Well,…I thought long and hard about writing this post. Do I really want to whine about some insignificant Facebook group? While I was relaying this sheer comic book farce to someone, he said, “Hey, that happened to me!” Except, in his case, it was a “Bicycling” group. I’m “Covid bored”, so thought I’d join and participate in some “film photography” groups to keep occupied during my forced hiatus. Sharing images, knowledge, lighting setups, cameras, lenses, etc. Just being a “nice guy”. I certainly didn’t expect any financial enumeration to result. (nor should it) If it’s something I know and can share or be helpful with,…such as an issue with a camera, developing, film, etc., and I can provide some positive input, I’m fine with that. I was unaware I would be subjected to “forced mindmeld group think”. Especially as it pertains to non-political, benign imaging. Is this a Facebook disease? In essence, I was berated for the totally innocent image below. Why? Because, while the model is actually touching her temples, (pantomiming thinking), some skinny jeaned, man bun, binky hugging weenie loser decided it was “chink eyes”. His words, not mine. And to succumb to the PC crowd, the Administrator deleted the image and the thread! Hopefully, not too many people got their feelings hurt, and were able to muddle through a young girl’s obvious “racism”. 🙄 WTF? (BTW, I sometimes wear ‘skinny jeans’) Why is there always someone who’ll sabotage a perfectly targeted group dedicated to,…apples,…and insist on talking about oranges? Why do people discussing French wines have to be subjected to “politics”? Why can’t I just talk about that new F3 I just got and not your “feelings”? And why are Administrators always falling into the “being politically correct” trap? Now, are there groups where Administrators surgically ban the culprits immediately? Sure. But, usually they’ll spell it out in the rules. I.e.,….“All off topic posts will be deleted and that member banned.” Pretty simple. Nip it in the bud. Eventually, the like minded disruptors will move on to more fertile ground. It’s not necessary to debate such agitators. BANNED! BOOM! Unfortunately, most group Admins have no cajones, or are secretly compatico with the offender.

Facts

I know. Facts are such an inconvenient, messy thing. However, in this case,… She was made up by a Japanese MU artist. Her hair was done by a Black stylist. The male designer was also there,… a gay South American. She was booked by a gay booker at a, (unnamed), model agency. It was just a “test” shoot for an agency’s new model. She’s NOT stretching her eyes,…just touching her temples. (that’s what her eyes look like) And,….SHE’S 14! She’s not even fully cooked yet. Good Lord! Do you really want to live in a world of moronic hall monitors, and allow them to assign some nebulous perception of racism to a child? Dudes,….have some effin backbone and speak up. Not just individuals. Companies, too. These self appointed arbitors of truth are actually,….cowards. They all follow the path of least resistance. Any pushback, and they fold like a cheap suit. Hence, my monikor of “weenies”. I minimally deserve an apology. I expect crickets.

Honor or Convenience?

Look,…in reality, Facebook is not that important. Not only “in life”, but not even for a website like this. Certainly not for traffic. Most traffic, (about 95%), comes organically from Google and other search engines, and directly. That’s without any advertising! Even Pinterest provided more traffic than Facebook ever did. Even when I had a FB page with over 12,000 followers, it barely floated around 1%. Twitter was even worse at .4% to .6%! Well, when I advertised, it was a little more. But not that much. I am no longer on ANY social media platforms. Not personally and not promoting websites. I made room for all the lovely people who enjoy doing battle. I have no interest in participating, and the payback is miniscule. If Grandma wants to put up a group about grandchildren,…I think that’s great. But even Grandma is now embattled almost daily with politics, cultural warfare and off topic tropes. Facebook and Twitter are one big troll farm, with one participant trying to out nasty the next. And recording everything you say or post, with or without context, for eternity! It can possibly affect a job, a legal issue, a standing in the community,….etc. So, what is the upside? As George Orwell once said in the book “Animal Farm”,…”All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Being of one of the lesser animal clans,….I no longer participate. Those who do will probably eventually only hurt themselves for the price of a short term injection of dopamine. It’s a losers game.

The Writing is on the Wall

My 13 yo daughter had a sleepover last year, with lots of friends. While feeding them, (pizza), the subject of Facebook came up. Much to my surprise, NONE of them uses Facebook! “Why?”, I asked. To quote,…”Facebook is just a bunch of stupid, old people.” Point is, this is Mark Zuckerberg’s and Jack Dorsey’s future. I expect the glitter to fade and people to get weary. Facebook likes to say groups are “building communities”. More like promoting a “fearful, submitting populace”, that lives under a constant barrage of the proletariat shuffling for one-upmanship. These platforms, along with video games, have destroyed a generation of youth, doing harm on a scale that makes a schoolyard dope dealer seem insignificant. (I know this from personal family experience) Hence, the online slime that perpetrated the offense of “faux polluting” an innocent image actually did me a favor. Trust me. You can free yourself. I mistakenly put it in the same league as quitting smoking. Nope. It was easy peasy. And life is so much better. People actually call me much more. After a few days I actually felt more connected and,….human. And deleting all of their nihilistic mobile apps was almost liberating. No more vibrates for every stupid and pointless notification. Think I’m going to go back to the days of having a magazine rack in the bathroom! Golly!

To synopsize,…the outraged feminists, PC police and identity politics gang can,….GO FUCK THEMSELVES. Me? I just wanna talk about my Nikon F4s, Rolleiflex, lighting setups, do more face to face meets, etc. The young ladies above are able to articulate a simple, if somewhat licentious, response to the social platform weenies. That’s you, Mark and Jack,…and your cadre of eunuchs. More important,…you can’t share a beer on the internet. Reclaim your beer and reclaim your humanity! 🍺

“I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.” – Albert Einstein