Facebook is a nice place to visit. I, myself, joined the human race and added Facebook to my daily routine. I have kept in contact with relatives and old friends, some of whom I had not seen in 40 or 50 years. So, as a social platform I like it.
Facebook is like sitting around a bar shooting the breeze. Sharing half-baked opinions and full baked photos. Take another drink and get even more emotional. Yell. Scream.
Facebook is like Thanksgiving dinner without the fights and turkey. Sharing photos of vacations. Happy birthday greetings. Reminiscing.
However, like so many things, Facebook has fallen victim to political shenanigans and financial shenanigans. So beware.
Mr . Zuckerberg, who evidently needs the money, will take ads from anyone. He has publicly rejected the idea that Facebook has any responsibility for vetting political ads. Just pay the dough. Claim what you want.
Facebook has become, in effect, the new tabloid of the internet. From this day forward, only a fool would believe anything Facebook posts. Facebook is now in the same category as some of the great tabloids, The National Enquirer and Weekly World News. Two of America’s great supermarket rags. In that spirit, here are some of the previous headlines from these tabloids…
“Abraham Lincoln was a Woman…shocking pix found in White House basement” (The first Polaroids.)
“Christmas Miracle: Severed leg hops to Hospital…accident victims runaway limb reattached in 7 hour operation” (But what happened to the shoe?)
“Gordon Ramsay sex dwarf eaten by badger” (Big badger or small dwarf?)
“Alien Bible found…they worship Oprah” (Not only aliens worship Oprah, but Oprah worships Oprah.)
“Shocking CIA leak reveal: Dick Cheney a robot” (OK. Well that one makes sense.)
“LA quake opens gates of hell…. Demons escape from crack in California highway” (Devon Nunes?)
“Chimp’s head put on human body….half man , half ape doing fine after operation” (Trey Gowdy explained.)
“Jesus Action Figure Heals the sick…move over GI Joe” (Rubby Ducky also walks on water.)
“Titanic Survivors found on board…shocking story of how they survived under water.” (Just hold your breath.)
Those were REAL HEADLINES. Really. They were. Soon, we will see the same kinds of headlines on Facebook…perhaps….
“Zuckerberg sex tapes with chipmunks exposed”
“Trump secret military mission…he singlehandedly caught Saddam”
“Joe Biden found dead 3 years ago… all his appearances are holograms”
“Detroit Lions win Super Bowl… secret game held outside of public view”
…and so on…Facebook is just another receptacle for Fake News. So, have a beer, talk to your friends and ignore the ads. Unless you can’t find a copy of the National Enquirer.
The Old Liberal 
We are flooded with fake, false, and unwanted information. I see common sense as the best defense.
Much is censored:
1. Corporations such as Microsoft are said to delete what may be spam.
2. Spam filters remove email according to unknown rules.
3. Facebook pages may hide posts for unexplained reasons.
4. Google searches operate with rules which may not be neutral.
5. Newspaper editors and TV producers make decisions for us.
I am not convinced that we would be better off if facebook more aggressively censored content. If facebook were to reject political ads, some unknown persons would need to decide what was political. Common sense is our best defense; if something seems wrong, it probably is wrong and had best be ignored.
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Or, not reject political ads, but be very open about WHO paid for the ad and that Facebook does not assume the content is accurate. A BIG disclaimer.
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I like the idea that facebook would report who paid, but how can we be sure that facebook would know where money, which is possibly well laundered, actually came from?
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If Facebook makes public where the money came from, the press can surely investigate to see if the payments are coming from Russian or fake accounts. The press can find out, once it is public.
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I have been battling with myself about whether to remain on Facebook, which I’ve never been deeply invested in and originally joined years ago when someone told me there was a lovely pic of my daughter and then-fiancé.
Do you think if I wrote Zuckerberg a scathing letter about how close he is to losing me that he’d change his errant ways?
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Well, you could take out an ad on Facebook criticizing Facebook. I am sure Mark would take your money.
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Just one more example of the evils of Capitalism—profits before people.
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That’s why we need strict regulations.
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Here is one recently seen on facebook: “History has proven that (Joseph) McCarthy was right.”
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Yikes.
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