Speaking of the “Social” Media Surveillance State 0
Toni Birdsong offers seven hints for protecting your digital privacy.
Stray Thought, All the News that Fits Dept. 0
It is an irony that predictions sometimes come true not in the ways envisioned by their predictors.
George Orwell envisioned Big Brother as a remote dictatorial figure enforcing uniformity and compliance through lies (“through lies” is important here), and he predicted a surveillance state in service to Big Brother.
We have a Big Brother, but, rather than promoting unity and conformity in service to the government, it sows chaos and division to undermine government (and governance) through lies (again, the “through lies” is important).
It’s called Fox News (and its many clones and imitators).
We have a surveillance state designed to track our every movement, one to which many persons offer up their deepest secrets willingly, even eagerly; a surveillance state conceived not to enforce uniformity, but to sell advertising, yet which also serves to spread said Big Brother’s lies.
It’s called “social” media.
As Professor Shade was fond of saying, “History is irony.” The irony here is that both of the above resist attempts by government to spread truth.
For example. And another. And another.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Pack politely when you prepare to fly the fiendly skies.
Gutting Out the Vote 0
Georgia county claims that closing all but one polling place will make voting easier.
In other news, down is up, left is right, and pigs have wings.
Freedom of Screech 0
the writer of a letter to the editor of the Portland Press-Herald draws a distinction. Here’s a bit of the missive:
I don’t know whether he as an ironclad legal case–the case law is ambiguous–but methinks he has an ironclad moral case.
The Kult of Kyle 0
This is just creepy.
The Voter Fraud Fraud, Village People Dept. 0
(Warning: Short commercial at the end.)
How Stuff Works, Racism in Schools Dept. 0
Apparently, one town has decided that, if no one talks about it, it must not have happened.
All the News that Fits 0
Fox News’s Jesse Watters wants to shoot the messenger.
Decorated 0
Ubuntu MATE with the Fluxbox window manager. The wallpaper is from my Christmas collection.
I have been having trouble getting into the Christmas spirit this year. Part of the problem is that it’s been a year of lousy news, but I think an even bigger issue has been that the climates they are a-changing. When the temperature’s in the 70’s, it just doesn’t seem very Christmasy for these parts.
For Pete’s sake, I drove to the recycling center with the top of my new(er) Mustang convertible down a couple of weeks ago.
In December.
(I must admit, though, that the last few days have felt a bit more like winter late fall.)
Vaccine Nation 0
In the midst of a larger article about addressing parents’ concerns about getting their children vaccinated against COVID-19, Jaime Sidani, Beth Hoffman, and Maya Ragavan spotlight the role of “social” media in perpetuating ignorance and lies. A snippet (emphasis added):
One more time, “social” media isn’t.