Social Media Needs a Hard Reset
Do you remember that old chestnut, ‘Opinions are like assholes, everyone on social media is an asshole.‘?
Big Tech just permanently removed one of the biggest assholes off of all their social media platforms recently with a coordinated move to de-platform the President of the United States a few days before the end of his term in office. Not content with those actions, there seems to be a move to permanently erase President Donald Trump’s entire existence such as wiping his cameo in ‘Home Alone 2‘. Former aides and advisors are jumping ship faster than rats for fear of permanent blacklisting. Major corporations such as Forbes have outright declared that anyone who worked in the administration are persona non grata. People in news organizations are even comfortable with floating the idea of ‘re-education camps’ for the children of Trump supporters so they can be reprogramed after four years of his Presidency.
Congratulations all you Donald Trump haters, you are emulating the tactics of one of the worst human monsters in all of history.
Getting back to my opening postulate, there are endless examples of double standard assholery from the ‘other side’ but the main thrust of this essay is not the macro scale of the issue but to explore what kind of mechanisms could be explored in order to reign in the general preponderance of assholery present throughout social media.
The unfettered democratization of the World Wide Web has been both an incredible boon and unmitigated curse for mankind. Billions of voices now have the chance to scream to be heard. The planet has not seen this type of democratization since the concept of universal suffrage was implemented. But, just because we are afforded the chance to access and comment on literally every topic, should we have the right to do so without any limits whatsoever?
General suffrage, or the right for all adults to have the vote, was not a popular idea at first. An American historian, Francis Parkman, wrote a long essay published in 1878 entitled ‘The Failure of Universal Suffrage‘, arguing that the great masses of the population should not be allowed to vote.
An excerpt:
When a man has not sense to comprehend the questions at issue, know a bad candidate from a good one, or see his own true interests? When he cares not a farthing for the general good, and will sell his vote for a dollar? When, by a native instinct, he throws up his cap at the claptrap declamation of some lying knave, and turns with indifference or dislike from the voice of honesty and reason? Then his vote becomes a public pest. Somebody uses him, and profits by him. Probably it is a demagogue, possibly a priest, or possibly both. In any case, it is folly to call him a free agent. His inalienable right may perhaps be valuable to him for the bribe he gets out of it; but it makes him a nuisance and a danger to the state. It causes pulpit, platform, and press, to condone his vices, and debauch the moral sense of the people by discovering objects of sympathy in vagabonds, thieves, and ruffians. It gives power to the communistic attack on property, and makes it difficult to deal with outbreaks of brutal violence against which even humanity itself demands measures of the most stern and exemplary repression.
Francis Parkman – ‘The Failure of Universal Suffrage‘ – The North American Review, Jul. – Aug., 1878, Vol. 127, No. 263 (Jul. – Aug., 1878), pp. 1-20
Could not many of these same arguments brought forth against everyone having the vote not be transferred to everyone not having an equal voice on social media? The platforms have devolved into shouting arenas with vitriol dripping from every tweet, post or TikTok video. You can literally call the sky blue and scores of anonymous trolls will call you out for being a misogynistic, white supremacist, hell-born Nazi. Share or post an article and the horde of Pavlov trained hounds will spew pre-programmed insults or praise with zero critical thought regarding the story or even a rudimentary understanding of it past the click-bait title.
Perhaps there should be a means test built into the algorithms of the various social media platforms. Maybe before a patron is allowed to comment, they must submit a short essay or answer a questionnaire to demonstrate they have actually read the article and then have something constructive to add to the conversation. Before a video is posted, a panel of luminaries could judge the relative merits of putting it out into the public sphere. Just before a Tweet is sent, an editor could review the content and spelling for context and thoughtfulness.
Of course, this is all idiotic fantasy, Pandora’s Box was long ago opened and the social media muses will never be confined again without hardcore, draconian interventions.
But not all is doom and gloom as there are diamonds within the Matrix if you search them out. Below is a partial list of organizations and persons which I find are balanced, logical, and whom otherwise I would never have interacted with outside of the ‘net.
- ZDoggMD – an excellent source for humour & layman’s medical knowledge
- Andy Ngô – an underground reporter who is unmasking Antifa’s domestic terrorism
- MPP Randy Hillier – literally the only Canadian politician who has been consistently trying to make some sense out of Canada’s Covid-19 response
- MLA Ellis Ross – BC representative trying to lift BC Natives out of poverty through responsible resource development
- Viewpoint from the North – Comprehensive list of article pertaining to northern BC issues with an emphasis on the Wet’suwet’en people
- Royal United Services Institute – source for military matters related to the Canadian sphere
- Daniel Bordman – Canadian current affairs specialist
- Rex Murphy – An absolute Canadian literary giant
- Farm Babe – great source for agriculture truth and information
- Caitlin Johnson – an insightful article writer on Medium
- Alexander Zubatov – writer on current affairs
- Tim Dunne – military current affairs writer
- David Pugliese – military current affairs writer and general pain in the arse
- Sienna Hunter – sex worker & podcaster of ‘The Escort: Deconstructed‘
- Joe Rogan – successful podcaster with guests from across the spectrum
- Outlaw Morgan – if you want down to earth, you can’t get any more real
- Patrick Moore – former founder of Greenpeace trying to put science back in the movement
- Ivor Cummins – holds a large repository of material related to Sars-Cov-2
- Stephen Kamugasa – thoughtful writer originally from the Dark Continent
- Kady M. – writer who heavily relies on data & logic
- Milhouse Van Houten – regularly produces detailed Covid-19 data charts for Ontario & Quebec weekly
- Brittany Hughes – host of Reality Check
- Humanoid History – an interesting wayback machine
- Ben Shapiro – regular contributor to Daily Wire
- Ezra Levant – head of Rebel News, the only alternative media outlet in Canada
- Tucker Carlson – regular contributor to Fox News
- RT – Russian State Affilitated Media – it’s good to listen to the other guys
- Stewart Muir – writer and Executive Director of Resource Works
- Rebecca Helm – Jellyfish, development & open ocean conservation professor
- Tom Quiggin – criminal & federal court expert on jihadist terrorism, host of Quiggin Report
- Joe Warmington – Toronto Sun columnist
- Human Progress.Org – Documenting the improving state of the world with data
Would it not be a better world if we all tried to add to the conversation in a meaningful, respective manner? (Plus the occasional cat video, they’re so darn cute!)
Blair is a personification of a ‘Jack of All Trades and Master of None’. He has held several careers and has all the T-shirts. Time to add the title Blogger to the list.