Mostly, I do this so that "friends" do not draw me into political discussions where they post ridiculous stuff which anyone can easily refute. (Facebook needs to make a distinctive add-on for "acquaintances" so that we aren't sullied by the embarrassment of quack opinions of people listed as "friends" in our feeds.)
With all the lies and hypocrisy rolling off the timelines of lazy Facebook posters these days, most thinking people just don't have the time or energy to point out the obvious.
More and more of us fact-checking, doubting Thomases just tire of people who never learn from their mistakes or even admit to them. Trying to reason with such intractable people becomes painful, like going down a sliding board made of cheese grates.
As more thinking people regularly deactivate from Facebook and begin to talk to other Facebook deactivators about how pleasant it is to NOT know that, say, their fave bartender believes Pizzagate is real or that their boss is a paranoid prepper who owns an arsenal of weapons (with gun porn photos!), the more they realize Facebook addicts are losing out on real life interactions.
Not knowing just how crazy and lazy certain acquaintances can be means you are less prone to try what will be a wasted intervention to bring them back to reality.
By deactivating from Facebook, you take back your living without an amped up "noise" from people gone over the deep end, people who drive you in their taxi, who drink at your bar, who fix your car or police your streets.
What I'm saying is I don't want to know if you think every mass shooting in America is a false flag operation, or that you believed for 8 years Obama was coming for your guns, or that closed down Walmarts were being prepped to turn into concentration camps. None of that shit every happened.
So, by staying off Facebook for days on end, I'm no longer boxing myself off from interacting with human beings in real life, I no longer avoid their businesses because I no longer know from timeline spying, lurking, and eavesdropping that this person making me a cafe con leche believes the moon landing was faked and that there's an alien city built under the ice of Antarctica.
Hence, Facebook, for the most part, is a crazy-making time-waster for me and it is why I deactivate every week now for days on end.
Still, I use the PM feature to communicate work related news, family news, etc. in private with real friends, family and workmates. I find that feature of Facebook useful.
Unfortunately, when I'm communicating via Private Messaging, I also see attendant pop ups on my Facebook timeline.
Here's my Facebook problem: As I respond to personal messages, I peruse the posts popping up in my news feed. I seem to always get suckered into reading a few of the craziest statements, even opening videos every once in a while.
Here's where my Facebook trouble begins: For the more egregious comments, I sometimes respond. If I dare speak out against misinformation or even disinformation, and I posit critical thinking which questions a person's irresponsible "news" and their sources, people I know, (and don't know) start braying like a heard of jackasses wanting to chase me from their grazing land. You know your time is up when they start posting in crazy and rude ALL CAPS RESPONSES.
As I am not a troll, I usually don't go beyond one or two responses when someone is posting in all caps in response to something I have laid out with reputable sources for info. That rude person TYPING IN ALL CAPS has already shown his weak hand to me that he is losing his mind and argument. When I see the ALL CAPS MONSTERS appear, I know it's time to check out of Facebook as there is no factual evidence which can slay these beasts who embrace ignorance.
So, when I encounter crazy people on Facebook, it is one or two responses and I'm done and gone.
As a US Army Veteran from the Vietnam era, I have had people post in heated all caps "YOU'RE UN-AMERICAN" or "CLASSIC EXAMPLE OF A LIBTARD" or "IF YOU HATE AMERICA SO MUCH, LEAVE!" and more. These comments come after I post a contra-belief or proof that a questionable comment they made lacks merit.
Let me digress for a moment: What I find so dark and humorous about so many of these Trump supporters who are my age, who nut up at waving their flags and their one true God, are how very few of them ever put on a uniform during Vietnam.
Most all of these old, tough-talking guys today took the easy way out in their youth, such as their heroes Ted Nugent, Dick Cheney, Donald Trump, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O' Reilly, etc., did when the Army needed bodies in Vietnam.
As I was in service to my country while their un-callused hands enjoyed keggers and partying in the USA during Vietnam, I laugh at their un-manly name calling and snide remarks about my love for America today. I vacate their stupid Facebook rants when they whip out their ALL CAPS grenades. As mama used to say, "Words will never hurt you."
But know this, Chickenhawks: My memory is long, baby, and you might be big men on social media as an armchair warrior today, but back then, I know what you were made of, or more the case - not made of.
In addition, my Army experience during the Vietnam era woke me up to what was wrong about that war. It also made me an early critic of the Bush Administration and the run up to the invasion of Iraq. More importanly, seeing the war machine from inside the cannon as fodder, it led me to re-read or view, a dozen or more times, Eisenhower's farewell speech about the Military Industrial Complex.
So, although I grew to hate my Army service while I was still wearing the uniform, later in life, I grew to value the boost it gave to my ability to critically think.
As a result of my military service (US Army 1971-74), I have a radar for MAGA hats on hypocrites who saber rattle the loudest, but who never put on a uniform when the Vietnam war machine needed young American bodies.
My military service turned me into an enlightened cynic: You see, the vast majority of men in my basic training were sprung from California prisons in return for signing a 13-month service agreement in Vietnam. Those men were men. And my basic training mates of old, whether alive or below a tombstone up in Arlington, have way more honor and claim to manhood in my mind than these lame ass, former party boys will ever have as they bark for war today on Facebook
That said, what is the fake news on Facebook which has moved me to write?
The following fake headline was put out there some 13 hours or so ago. An ex-schoolmate of mine, whom I refuse to friend on Facebook, "shared" this on his home page. He is one of only 84 people (at this moment, but picking up shares as I type) to spread this stupidity as "news."
Worse yet, the ignorant people jumping on this headline to validate their xenophobia are calling this headline an article when there is no article to read.
The headline still appears on a Facebook page, which needs to be closed down forever. This Facebook page I question is titled, "Ivanka Trump, America's First Daughter."
The particular post I am speaking of has a headline (I do not bullshit you):
"Muslim Refugee Kills 30 People In Michigan Because Trump Bombed Syria. Would You Support Trump If He Hang (sic) Them?"
(Facebook does not allow me to link you directly to this headline on the Ivanka Trump, America's First Daughter Page. You'll have to scroll down on your own to find it with appended photo. At this moment, this untruthful headline has not only 84 shares, but 249 likes.)
When I saw this easy to check headline on this ex- schoolmate's homepage I thought, "Do you not understand this makes you look like a true Nationalist fool?" And then I thought, "Or are you really this stupid to fall for such an easy to check headline?"
Moving on, if you click on that "article's" headline posted on the "Ivanka Trump, America's First Daughter" facebook page, it takes you to a website called "truetrumpers" where the same headline is repeated over a series of clickbait ads with images
http://truetrumpers.com/breaking-muslim-refugees-kills-30-people-in-michigan-because-trump-bombed-syria-would-you-support-trump-if-he-hang-them
This website is one of the most grotesque examples I've seen to date of "click bait" advertising.
Why?
Let's say you're already outraged by the headline and you are ready to have your beliefs backed up . . . so, you click on the headline. Or let's say you're a disbeliever in the headline, you're a critical thinker, and you want to read the meat of the article which so many unquestioning people on facebook are sharing.
There's a problem . . .
If you click on the supposed article's headline as posted on the truetrumpers page, you do not open up an article with fact checkable "news." Nope. Instead, you are given an ad (In direct marketing, this would be known as "Closing the sale in a three-step process") for some badly made product or service!
Meaning, this:
1. The Facebook page, "Ivanka Trump, America's First Daughter" , is bogus and a scam page set up to hopefully direct unwitting people to another website.
Because of the outrageous headlines feeding preconceived Nationalist feelings, many righteous and indignant people suffering from paranoia will virally spread the false headlines without making a cursory search to check on facts.
Consequently, the headlines explode exponentially across Facebook to give the marketers of click bait ads a very good return on the fabrication of a one-minute-made lie in headline form.
Think about this too: Many of the people responding positively to the negative news' headline with a "like" have never clicked on the headline to read the hoped for article. (In fact, there's no discussion of any article in the comments below the headline about 30 dead Americans. But there are plenty of virulent comments from people wanting all Muslims dead.)
I think people who don't read news articles under a headline and who make unsubstantiated comments below the latest outrage - eventhough it is false - are like unwitting meat puppets without brains.
On the other hand, I dare say, IF, they are the rare rightwing critical thinker who says, "Maybe I should read the article it connects to before sharing it with my friends on Facebook," they will save themselves much embarrassment later.
Furthermore, there will be others who realize the scam after going to trumpturthers website, but who still pass on the headline because it supports their unsupportable views. (For these types, I wish they click through on some of the scam products and give the insecure websites their credit card information.)
That said, when I was in direct mail advertising as a copywriter, this type of marketing would be called a classic example of a three-step process of closing a sale.
The first step of this money making scam is an attention getting headline on a made for Facebook page titled "Ivanka Trump - America's First Daughter".
The second step is to get you to click on the outrageous headline which leads to a website called trumptruthers.
The people behind this scam make money for your "view" of that ad no matter how long you look at it.
2. Embarrassingly (for those who are aliterate, not illiterate), people such as this ex-schoolmate of mine shared this first headline as "breaking news." It is still up on his home page. He posted it. He's proud of it. Tough guy. ALL CAPS type of poster.
3. None of the people "sharing" this fake news which I have taken time to see posted on various home pages have bothered to take down this "share" of false news. Which means these duped (or sociopathic) people are spreading bullshit news like a virus. This also means they are having friends and family read their "share" and generating negative or positive buzz on a news item which can be easily debunked.
4. To make matters worse, this particular school mate was a former Senior Vice President at a corporate firm and was in Data Processing at a Fortune 100 company. I cannot imagine this man in a business world so sorely needing ethical leadership. What value could such an easily misled, or purposefully misleading, mind bring to any kind of business? Can you imagine a higher up in Human Resources reading this guy's crappy facebook share without alarm and thinking, "Oh yeah, he deserves a promotion!"?
5. Now I share the facebook page again (Step one) in this assault on credibility and truth.
https://www.facebook.com/IvankaTrumpAmericas1stDaughter/?fref=nf&pnref=story
6. You will have to scroll down past other insane, unverified headlines, each with dozens of "likes" and "shares" to find the "article" I am talking about.
Once you find the headline in question, you can click on a button next to this article's headline on the "Ivanka Trump - America's First Daughter" page, to see who the other 84 people are who "shared" this shite with family and friends.
The first guy in the lineup is a "consultant at "Ambit Energy" and has posted "Bondservant of the True Living God" above his work profile.
Another is a former Century 21 real estate broker. She has covered her page with godly and patriotic memes.
Another is currently a truck driver at Rees Trucking and also has a post from another fake news site saying "Malia Obama Suspended from Harvard" (easily refuted by anyone using Google) on his timeline. He covered his page with godly and patriotic memes too.
And as you go down the line of people who "share" crap such as this one headline I am calling out, you begin to understand not many of their "friends" are clicking "like" or responding to it.
You realize, after viewing just a half-dozen profiles, these are lonely people, for the most part, Baby Boomers or Generation Xers, who hope for interaction. They seek like-minded people. They hope to get friends and family involved in their craziness. Their loneliness and gullibility are somber to see. Proof that wisdom does not always come with age.
You have to wonder if the family and friends, especially the Trump voters among them, are beginning to realize, "This has gone too far. I did not realize Dear _____________ was so susceptible to insane posturing and willing to look ridiculous to friends and family."
As I have suggested, see this on your own. There are more headlines on this "Ivanka Trump - America's First Daughter" facebook page which will show you unquestioning people who devour the most insane headlines, hook, line, and sinker.
"Breaking News. Democrats Are In A Panic Barrack OBama (sic, their spelling) Arrested At Airport. Do You Support This? - True Trumpers"
BREAKING! BARRACK OBAMA SAYS "MUSLIM IS MY RELIGION TOO AND I STAND WITH MY PEOPLE." WILL YOU SUPPORT TRUMP IF HE DEPORT (sic) OBAMA TOO?
There are dozens of other headlines too, each using fear, uncertainty, and despair to amp up sociopathy in simple minds.
Scammed people, feeding off fear, despair and uncertainty are the body politic today. Scam artists prey on these weakest of minds, some of whom take the bait and "share" fake news as "truth."
p.s. If you look at that facebook page for "Ivanka Trump - America's First Daughter," you'll want to see the recommends, shares and especially the comments under each insane headline.
At least some Trump supporters are pointing out the news is fake. May their numbers grow.
What I wish is all the people who support Trump and who are responding with "this is fake news" will begin to realize how they got played by false news on social media when Trump was campaigning.
I can hope, can't I?
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