Many comments here, some of them seeming rather angry, are telling me to leave Facebook. Do you realize what you are asking? You are basically asking me to take a job that I love, a job that I've work at relentlessly for 16 years to build out of nothing, and making it untenable.
The vast majority of books I sell and Substack subscription I get all came and come from Facebook. I have 320,000 followers there that I invested countless hours in attaining. It's a nice community. Facebook may be run by a ring-kissing immoral asswipe, but there are still plenty of good people using it. My page still gets a lot of interaction from good people. Most of the commenters are the same people who like my work and buy my stuff. I don't have the numbers on Substack to replace them.
So please don't be all high and mighty about me staying there when I am still reaching good people with anti-Nazi messaging, and when it is still critical to doing this job.
I actually had to go on Facebook after deleting it for a long time to sell my car.. I was VERY surprised at just how much anti Elon/ anti trump rhetoric was on there! Even viral posts had a vast amount of people who have had it with this administration. It was a hopeful sight to see.
I hate Facebook, but I get that people have an identity-tie to it; it’s still a worthwhile community (right?) and it doesn’t feel like if everybody decent leaves it will just collapse into itself. It is an ecosystem that seems to survive anything (of course zuck keeps shifting goalposts, which is challenging but I guess keeps it alive?).
People advising “just leave Facebook” are oversimplifying a complex, fucked up problem.
Lots of us can and have/will leave.
Lots of others should stay for their own reasons. But good Christ having to look at those glamour shots of musk & baby feels quite punishing.
It amazes me that people cannot easily identify AI images. These don't even look like Elon, plus he wearing a suit! Not only this — there are so many images of puppies, tiny homes, bridges that go into space, and people just seem so dumb and gullible. Like these images are sharper than in real life, that alone is a clue.
Anyway, I hate FB too, but stay on there for some local community private groups and a one that shares info on a child-specific thing, that are necessities. People who have no need for either love to preach about just logging off forever. I might one day, but with all its downsides, still find parts of it valuable.
James, I’m sorry that’s happening to you. None of us have the right, or should even act like we have the right, to tell someone what to do when it comes to anything in their lives. I’m not quite sure why people would feel that it’s appropriate to tell you to leave Facebook. If you’re doing good work there, and I don’t doubt that you are, then carry on. I’m going to look you up on Facebook and follow you. If at some point, I decide to leave Facebook I’ll just let people know that they can contact me in other ways. You are new to me as a writer and I am an immediate fan.
Ugh that "im sorry thats happening to you" shit is more of the same fake being passed off as real. Might as well be the first chapter of How to get Likes. Im sorry THAT happened to you and everyone else in this fake emotions(including empathy) world, so lets all watch more cooking videos and take turns blowing hot air up the creators skirt and feel like real people
Time to move on, James. Many of us started on Facebook. Now it is hopelessly corrupt and is a major source of disinformation. You are also supporting a platform that is in bed with a wannabe fascist dictator.
My business and the benefit of networking was MUCH smaller than yours on Facebook, but I decided that it was best for me to leave Facebook on January 20th. But sometimes I wish i was still on there and fighting, so I'm glad that you're still putting up a good fight!
We need you there. I sure have noticed this! It was when Zuck said OK to Elon’s advertising / sponsor requested a couple weeks ago I noticed how much better and more numerous the fake profiles of the musk testicle lickers quintupled. Not just fake profiles, but REAL profiles of unreal people who post, argue, shop, and behave (albeit a little to stilted) like they are maga replicas except with teeth and filters. I say you stay and fake delete those AI fake profiles using the AI that is obviously working hard to drive humans off FB and leave it as a playground for AI bots who look — and are learning to behave and argue — just like MAGA voters.
STAY AND BEAR WITNESS. Unless it gets to be too surreal. Then run for the hills.
I left Facebook, along with Threads and Insta, the day Zuckerberg got rid of fact-checking. I knew it was going to turn into a festering right-wing pesthole, and it sounds as if it’s well on its way.
Facebook was a way to keep up with friends and family, and I miss that; but it was passive, and too easy, and made me think I was staying in touch when all I was really doing was clicking “like” on the occasional photo.
I’ve read an argument that we should stay on Facebook and Twitter (which I left when Musk bought it), because we shouldn’t consent to being forced out of public spaces and let them become toxic right-wing troll-infested wastelands. I see that argument, but these aren’t people I need to read. And it sounds like most of them are bots anyway.
Let them entertain each other, and I’ll keep up with my friends the old-fashioned way, over coffee.
Very much enjoy the “Sweary Histories”, and recommend them to my friends.
I did the same thing back in November and suffered the same losses, ADHD Academic. I've lost contact with literally hundreds of friends, some I've known since my twenties.
I left FB back in 2014 and lost contact with a bunch of “friends” who although they had my email, never cared to use it.
Personally I’ve never understood the argument that FB is the only way to stay in touch with some people. If they have FB, they have an email address and can email you if they care to stay in touch. If that’s too much trouble, do they really care? Hell, I’m sure they have a phone, too.
From my experience before FB existed, I was the one who chronically stayed in touch with cousins and friends with letters, cards and even homemade gifts. They responded back infrequently if at all. I kept at it. When FB appeared I was so happy that I seemed to finally connect with them. I like the Memories that you can look back on. I had a private group that was like therapy for me when my husband was diagnosed with lung cancer. This group was a way to let friends and family know what was going on without me having to talk and talk about it. It helped me so much especially towards the end when I was afraid to leave him unattended. My friends responded immediately to help me in so many ways. It’s hard to leave FB.
I’m so sad and scared over what this country is experiencing.
Social media has turned into fertilizer on everyone's character defects. I call my friends my friends and family. We text each other photos. It's not rocket science. Don't support the propaganda.
Those “reasons why I don’t want to/can’t leave FB” remind me too much of the excuses addicts give for continuing down the same harmful/self-destructive/toxic road. Yep, that’s a harsh indictment. But we each make our own choices, concoct our own rationales. I chose to re-examine my online behavior and assess how much of my “connection” is more than a thumbs up in a social media platform, news links I am personally capable of finding on my own, performative activity sharing and the hard lure of voyeurism. How many of these “friends” are actually present and truly important in my day to day life? Sure, there’s a kind of comfort and assurance knowing I can drop a comment on social media and a bunch of people will read it and possibly offer a heart in response, maybe a word or two of acknowledgment. I guess it assuages loneliness some. But that isn’t the caliber of connection I’m after - or worth putting up with for the constant engagement metering, digital surveillance, ads, or piles of propaganda designed to influence my views. Truth, I liked my social life much better before social media. So, I stepped away from the platforms and returned to a better time and real connection, in person or over the phone. It’s not my job to protect Facebook’s community with my “authentic voice.” Leave the trolls and bots and toxic and argumentative people to their dark opinion brewing. If you want my authentic voice, you know how to reach me.
I admit that I kept my account, I just deactivated Facebook. So I can still use messenger. I know this is a cop out. But at least I only see people I want to talk to on messenger.
No one who is employed has the time to maintain hundreds of friendships. You lost touch with hundreds of acquaintances and likely a handful of true friends. The truly important relationships can easily be maintained without FB.
Pinned a note on my page that I would be ignoring Facebook, but that I could be reached through messenger. Had one old friend reach out to ask me about a hotel, so that part worked.
I left it too, because you aren’t going to to change anyone’s mind on there quite frankly. Also, when I announced I was leaving I told everyone ten days prior to reach out where they could find me if they were interested. Granted I didn’t have 3200 followers but out of the 300 I did have only 5 reached out. That tells me that people just do the clicks, they’re not entirely vested in you. It was definitely an eye opener and so far I haven’t felt i’ve missed out on anything vitally important. People I truly care about and who care about me have reached out by phone texts.
I gave up 'keeping up' with friends on Facebook a while back. It served its purpose in the past but now it's just a friendship graveyard. The people I keep in contact with in RL are the people I want in my life. Facebook is meaningless.
I respect that stance! But I need to protect my peace. It just bothers me too much. There’s an election going on in Canada right now and I am just going to avoid the news until it’s over.
They are still censoring; usually, they no longer tell you they are removing a post; sometimes they do, but they don't give details or a chance to appeal. I recently got a removal from FB Mexico with an explanation that my post was not allowed in Mexico. I couldn't even see the post, and I have no idea why it was removed. I don’t speak Spanish and wasn't unaware I had viewers in Mexico. I don't know why they didn't just block it in Mexico and leave it up.
I came to Substack because Facebook kept removing my posts on Gaza, and I don’t like Zuck. I am still on Facebook but only post to my private circle of close friends and family because I can't get them to join me here.
Please don’t give up! We need you more than ever. I also refuse to leave Face or to unfriend the crazies because I NEED to know what they are talking and thinking about. It is imperative to stay informed even if it makes me ill and incredulous.
I left the same time! I’m not going to lie at first I felt free, then wondered about so and so, missed the Dull Men’s group, now getting back to freedom again.
I also miss the Dull Men’s group. Also that curated memes page was pretty good, and a couple of neurodivergent groups .And I had a few friends I stayed in touch with no other way. But I suppose “stayed in touch” is really an overstatement if all we were doing was occasionally clicking “like” on each other’s memes.
Absolutely terrifying. My theory is: They KNOW. There is not an adult living in the United States right now that does NOT KNOW. I think it's much deeper than what you describe. When Nazi Germany was ramping up in the 20's and 30's the average German was exposed to a lot of anti--"other" propaganda. The actual tip over to madness for the average German was gradual. That is not what is happening here and now. We KNOW. We've read the books, attended the classes, watched the movies, seen the pictures, for fuck's sake, The History Channel played WWII on a loop 24 hours a day for like 10 years straight. In the United States now, the people who see circle and not square WANT to be inside the circle.... they KNOW. They've not swallowed the propaganda they wink, nudge each other and can't wait to participate. They WANT the shiny black suits, they WANT the deaths head pins, they want ALL OF IT. Even the ones who were saying, "we want cheap eggs and affordable gas". They are not stupid. They wanted to participate. For some of them now, they are finding out that only the ones that Rump and Mush choose specifically will get to participate. The rest, just like us, will either become victims or will become the Resistance. I choose to resist.
FWIW, the ppl I know who support Trump/Musk do not believe a war is coming, they believe that these guys are fixing the country and that life will be better for everyone (including the “legal” immigrants) once the ship is set aright, and to them any suggestion that there is or will be mass murder or incarceration is leftist propaganda meant to scare me. They wave off any suggestion of white supremacists or the Jan 6 rioters as a true issue, calling them fringe or not what we think they are. I don’t agree, obviously, but it is interesting to me that there’s a - probably very large - contingent of Trump voters who absolutely believe he’s a good guy who was attacked by liberals and never given a fair shot and is doing the absolute best and smartest things for the country.
PS oddly enough also deeply suspicious of and confrontational about “big pharma” but not willing to assign that distrust or fault to billionaire corporate CEOs/shareholders. I feel like this is the final frontier.
Idk, alot of the trump supporters ik, much like you describe, have a touch of saddness in their eyes. I think its dawning on them that trump isnt going to make their lives any better. Oh well i guess. But the sadder they get the more they hate "lefty". They use that word like the nazis used jew. So in a roundabout way, they know whats up
Yes, Amanda, this describes the few supporters left in my life. My chronically unemployed cousin sounds exactly as you describe, while his disabled wife and homeschooled children are likely unvaccinated. He genuinely believes that I'm the misinformed one, and that the Cheato is saving the USA.
War is coming. The propaganda machine is hard at work spreading mis and dis information (more accurately, lies , lies , and damn lies. ) They will then say "see? War is because of...Ukrainians, jews, trangender folk, those gays, brown people, (and etc). Facebook and zuck is a right-wing platform very busy spreading the lies, and not to be trusted. Bezos just made wapo into a total right-wing platform, ending what was once a great paper. The only press I trust are the independents and foreign. Swear history is always a breath of fresh air.
We all need to be aware, stay informed of truth, and be prepared. Trump said it out loud even though we knew it before. War is coming and it is 100% due to the current corrupt traitorous republican administration
Actually war is here. Knowledge and information are under attack. Gaslighting has sucked in about 40% of the US citizens. The rest of us need to fight back however we can. Stop buying, especially from the oligarchs, attend protests, write and call your representatives, including the red ones. We need to participate in groups that are already organized, such as Indivisible, Working Peoples Party etc.
There is a long passage in answer to the question “Why do liberals think Trump supporters are stupid?” I'm not going to copy out the whole answer written by Adam-Troy Castro. The last two paragraphs say it all.
“What you don't get, Trump supporters, is that our succumbing to frustration and shaking our heads, thinking of you as stupid, may very well be wrong and unhelpful, but it's also...hear me... CHARITABLE.
Because if you're NOT stupid, then we must turn to the other explanations, and most of them are far less flattering.”
Dana, his profile is interesting, full of quotes by others, he seems somewhat condescending, (many self-styled philosopher types are) and superior. How do I block someone on this app?
You shouldn’t kill hitler just because of a disagreement. Hitler gives us all kinds of reasons to be killed beyond simple disagreement. That point is obvious
Except he's not killing them, he just wishes they'd do it to themselves, because they are going to cause/re causing great suffering and death. He's literally openly admitted to wanting Gaza ethnically cleansed, and sells the weapons, I think he'll cope with us saying he could do with the French Aristocrat experience.
Yet what's a good old old lady supposed to think when she sees her country slipping into a authoritorian dicktator narcissistic conman state of rules ? I'm not hitlertarean but wishful thinking for a reasonable ending with a unreasonable reactionists usually doesn't end well on any terms but their own ..so be it
I haven’t seen evidence of what you calling an “authoritarian dicktator”, narcissistic conman I’ll give you though. Show me a politician that isn’t? that’s the problem…
I spend as little time as possible on Facebook. I don't respond to any ads, just scroll past them. Unfortunately, I cannot leave Facebook completely as it is the only way so far of knowing what is happening with my city. It is the only way that I am aware of that the mayor and city council communicate with the community. I pay no attention to Twitter or TikTok. I have found Substack to be far more interesting and informative. Keep educating people, James.
I keep wondering about this. A few friends have complained about the same thing and I’m wondering if the code isn’t such that if you delete these types of posts, that it actually makes them more frequent?
My FB isn’t the cesspool everyone has been describing and my echo chamber is mostly resistance posts and info. But I’m not in the habit of deleting things…which makes me wonder
I'm with you, I'm not seeing this either. If anything, I see posts criticizing Musk. But then, most of my follows and likes are for liberal and democratic posts, writers and personalities. Wading into the comments is always a cesspool, but my feed itself is relatively aligned with my own views.
Yeah, I'm in NE Ohio, most of it right now is "how are the roads?" and everyone piling on to say, "Look out the window, moron..." Not the greatest advertisement.
My HOA said not to use it, the have poor internet security, and I keep getting postcards from supposed neighbors, to join, who don't exist. There is no house with that address.
It appears the “social media” age has reached a point of enshitification designed to drive decent folk out. I will miss the best of it. Those heady early days when the Al Gore rhythms actually let you hear from friends are long gone now, first chasing ever-rising profits, now chasing absolute power.
This ^^^^ My feed is nasty crap, like barely clad women who look like professional escorts in the reels and so-called "celebritities who I have no clue who they are begging for a follow.
Because, even though liberal, my family and friends are still overwhelmingly on Facebook. Even those that have jumped to Bluesky primarily post to Facebook, partially because of the local marketplaces, businesses and groups available to them there, partially because of the character limitations.
Because that's still where my local businesses and organizations post their events.
Well, if you want to support Zuckerberg and Meta, it’s your choice. I got off FB five years ago and never looked back. I admit I stayed on Instagram for the dance videos, but I’m ready to let go. I’m just getting used to Bluesky, but I hope you can migrate there. Much more support and camaraderie.
Agreed. Supporting Zuckerberg, Bezos or Musk is like supporting the enemy. I couldn’t in good conscience do that. I think we have to stand together to drop all support for any of these 3. That includes no Amazon including all the companies included in Amazon’s holdings.
I share your fear and the nasty orange shit-ass all but pulled the trigger hesterday. I'm interested in the history of totalitarianiam more than ever now, as are many other Americans-just ask the librarians while we still have them. What I worry is that we have been so brainwahsed by the white man's history they shoved down out our gullets all throughout our primary and secondary education that there is no hope of seeing the truth now. He tells obvious lies, says that things we know happened didn't happen, and his people get in line. What hope do we have to understand our past in a way that might help us put the brakes on this and hold them accountable when they are rewriting the present before our very eyes? Well before cancelling DEI they crushed the teaching of critical race theory and in my town, even the teaching of Mexican American studies to high schoolers- when they literally sit on land that was 'purchased' from Mexico not that long ago. Trump sits on a throne of lies, built by centuries of rewriting our stories to suit white men in power. I appreciate your writing, it's part of the solution, along with all the swearing, I'm convinced the anwers we need now lie the past, but only if we mine them for the truth, and it seems so slippery right now.
Many comments here, some of them seeming rather angry, are telling me to leave Facebook. Do you realize what you are asking? You are basically asking me to take a job that I love, a job that I've work at relentlessly for 16 years to build out of nothing, and making it untenable.
The vast majority of books I sell and Substack subscription I get all came and come from Facebook. I have 320,000 followers there that I invested countless hours in attaining. It's a nice community. Facebook may be run by a ring-kissing immoral asswipe, but there are still plenty of good people using it. My page still gets a lot of interaction from good people. Most of the commenters are the same people who like my work and buy my stuff. I don't have the numbers on Substack to replace them.
So please don't be all high and mighty about me staying there when I am still reaching good people with anti-Nazi messaging, and when it is still critical to doing this job.
I actually had to go on Facebook after deleting it for a long time to sell my car.. I was VERY surprised at just how much anti Elon/ anti trump rhetoric was on there! Even viral posts had a vast amount of people who have had it with this administration. It was a hopeful sight to see.
I hate Facebook, but I get that people have an identity-tie to it; it’s still a worthwhile community (right?) and it doesn’t feel like if everybody decent leaves it will just collapse into itself. It is an ecosystem that seems to survive anything (of course zuck keeps shifting goalposts, which is challenging but I guess keeps it alive?).
People advising “just leave Facebook” are oversimplifying a complex, fucked up problem.
Lots of us can and have/will leave.
Lots of others should stay for their own reasons. But good Christ having to look at those glamour shots of musk & baby feels quite punishing.
It amazes me that people cannot easily identify AI images. These don't even look like Elon, plus he wearing a suit! Not only this — there are so many images of puppies, tiny homes, bridges that go into space, and people just seem so dumb and gullible. Like these images are sharper than in real life, that alone is a clue.
Anyway, I hate FB too, but stay on there for some local community private groups and a one that shares info on a child-specific thing, that are necessities. People who have no need for either love to preach about just logging off forever. I might one day, but with all its downsides, still find parts of it valuable.
James, I’m sorry that’s happening to you. None of us have the right, or should even act like we have the right, to tell someone what to do when it comes to anything in their lives. I’m not quite sure why people would feel that it’s appropriate to tell you to leave Facebook. If you’re doing good work there, and I don’t doubt that you are, then carry on. I’m going to look you up on Facebook and follow you. If at some point, I decide to leave Facebook I’ll just let people know that they can contact me in other ways. You are new to me as a writer and I am an immediate fan.
Ugh that "im sorry thats happening to you" shit is more of the same fake being passed off as real. Might as well be the first chapter of How to get Likes. Im sorry THAT happened to you and everyone else in this fake emotions(including empathy) world, so lets all watch more cooking videos and take turns blowing hot air up the creators skirt and feel like real people
Time to move on, James. Many of us started on Facebook. Now it is hopelessly corrupt and is a major source of disinformation. You are also supporting a platform that is in bed with a wannabe fascist dictator.
My business and the benefit of networking was MUCH smaller than yours on Facebook, but I decided that it was best for me to leave Facebook on January 20th. But sometimes I wish i was still on there and fighting, so I'm glad that you're still putting up a good fight!
I tend to agree, let’s not be like the Musk/Trump Administration and “throw out the baby with the bath water.” 😉
We need you there. I sure have noticed this! It was when Zuck said OK to Elon’s advertising / sponsor requested a couple weeks ago I noticed how much better and more numerous the fake profiles of the musk testicle lickers quintupled. Not just fake profiles, but REAL profiles of unreal people who post, argue, shop, and behave (albeit a little to stilted) like they are maga replicas except with teeth and filters. I say you stay and fake delete those AI fake profiles using the AI that is obviously working hard to drive humans off FB and leave it as a playground for AI bots who look — and are learning to behave and argue — just like MAGA voters.
STAY AND BEAR WITNESS. Unless it gets to be too surreal. Then run for the hills.
I left Facebook, along with Threads and Insta, the day Zuckerberg got rid of fact-checking. I knew it was going to turn into a festering right-wing pesthole, and it sounds as if it’s well on its way.
Facebook was a way to keep up with friends and family, and I miss that; but it was passive, and too easy, and made me think I was staying in touch when all I was really doing was clicking “like” on the occasional photo.
I’ve read an argument that we should stay on Facebook and Twitter (which I left when Musk bought it), because we shouldn’t consent to being forced out of public spaces and let them become toxic right-wing troll-infested wastelands. I see that argument, but these aren’t people I need to read. And it sounds like most of them are bots anyway.
Let them entertain each other, and I’ll keep up with my friends the old-fashioned way, over coffee.
Very much enjoy the “Sweary Histories”, and recommend them to my friends.
I did the same thing back in November and suffered the same losses, ADHD Academic. I've lost contact with literally hundreds of friends, some I've known since my twenties.
I left FB back in 2014 and lost contact with a bunch of “friends” who although they had my email, never cared to use it.
Personally I’ve never understood the argument that FB is the only way to stay in touch with some people. If they have FB, they have an email address and can email you if they care to stay in touch. If that’s too much trouble, do they really care? Hell, I’m sure they have a phone, too.
Nailed it.
My best friend doesn't even have a Facebook and her social life is just fine.
From my experience before FB existed, I was the one who chronically stayed in touch with cousins and friends with letters, cards and even homemade gifts. They responded back infrequently if at all. I kept at it. When FB appeared I was so happy that I seemed to finally connect with them. I like the Memories that you can look back on. I had a private group that was like therapy for me when my husband was diagnosed with lung cancer. This group was a way to let friends and family know what was going on without me having to talk and talk about it. It helped me so much especially towards the end when I was afraid to leave him unattended. My friends responded immediately to help me in so many ways. It’s hard to leave FB.
I’m so sad and scared over what this country is experiencing.
Social media has turned into fertilizer on everyone's character defects. I call my friends my friends and family. We text each other photos. It's not rocket science. Don't support the propaganda.
Totally agree. It is a poison. Especially for our youth.
Those “reasons why I don’t want to/can’t leave FB” remind me too much of the excuses addicts give for continuing down the same harmful/self-destructive/toxic road. Yep, that’s a harsh indictment. But we each make our own choices, concoct our own rationales. I chose to re-examine my online behavior and assess how much of my “connection” is more than a thumbs up in a social media platform, news links I am personally capable of finding on my own, performative activity sharing and the hard lure of voyeurism. How many of these “friends” are actually present and truly important in my day to day life? Sure, there’s a kind of comfort and assurance knowing I can drop a comment on social media and a bunch of people will read it and possibly offer a heart in response, maybe a word or two of acknowledgment. I guess it assuages loneliness some. But that isn’t the caliber of connection I’m after - or worth putting up with for the constant engagement metering, digital surveillance, ads, or piles of propaganda designed to influence my views. Truth, I liked my social life much better before social media. So, I stepped away from the platforms and returned to a better time and real connection, in person or over the phone. It’s not my job to protect Facebook’s community with my “authentic voice.” Leave the trolls and bots and toxic and argumentative people to their dark opinion brewing. If you want my authentic voice, you know how to reach me.
I admit that I kept my account, I just deactivated Facebook. So I can still use messenger. I know this is a cop out. But at least I only see people I want to talk to on messenger.
No one who is employed has the time to maintain hundreds of friendships. You lost touch with hundreds of acquaintances and likely a handful of true friends. The truly important relationships can easily be maintained without FB.
Most of these so called aquintences or friends in FB probley aren't even real ...probley bots to keep you on their site .
Pinned a note on my page that I would be ignoring Facebook, but that I could be reached through messenger. Had one old friend reach out to ask me about a hotel, so that part worked.
I did the same, but then I deactivated Facebook so they probably can’t see that post anymore
It is a small price to pay.
I left it too, because you aren’t going to to change anyone’s mind on there quite frankly. Also, when I announced I was leaving I told everyone ten days prior to reach out where they could find me if they were interested. Granted I didn’t have 3200 followers but out of the 300 I did have only 5 reached out. That tells me that people just do the clicks, they’re not entirely vested in you. It was definitely an eye opener and so far I haven’t felt i’ve missed out on anything vitally important. People I truly care about and who care about me have reached out by phone texts.
So much this. Quit a month ago. I am much better for it.
I gave up 'keeping up' with friends on Facebook a while back. It served its purpose in the past but now it's just a friendship graveyard. The people I keep in contact with in RL are the people I want in my life. Facebook is meaningless.
I respect that stance! But I need to protect my peace. It just bothers me too much. There’s an election going on in Canada right now and I am just going to avoid the news until it’s over.
Man I thought most people left Facebook 10 years ago or more
I did. And all the photos and “memories” that, if they were that important, my mind would’ve retained. No sleep lost.
Killing their numbers is more important.
They are still censoring; usually, they no longer tell you they are removing a post; sometimes they do, but they don't give details or a chance to appeal. I recently got a removal from FB Mexico with an explanation that my post was not allowed in Mexico. I couldn't even see the post, and I have no idea why it was removed. I don’t speak Spanish and wasn't unaware I had viewers in Mexico. I don't know why they didn't just block it in Mexico and leave it up.
I came to Substack because Facebook kept removing my posts on Gaza, and I don’t like Zuck. I am still on Facebook but only post to my private circle of close friends and family because I can't get them to join me here.
Please don’t give up! We need you more than ever. I also refuse to leave Face or to unfriend the crazies because I NEED to know what they are talking and thinking about. It is imperative to stay informed even if it makes me ill and incredulous.
I left the same time! I’m not going to lie at first I felt free, then wondered about so and so, missed the Dull Men’s group, now getting back to freedom again.
I also miss the Dull Men’s group. Also that curated memes page was pretty good, and a couple of neurodivergent groups .And I had a few friends I stayed in touch with no other way. But I suppose “stayed in touch” is really an overstatement if all we were doing was occasionally clicking “like” on each other’s memes.
Absolutely terrifying. My theory is: They KNOW. There is not an adult living in the United States right now that does NOT KNOW. I think it's much deeper than what you describe. When Nazi Germany was ramping up in the 20's and 30's the average German was exposed to a lot of anti--"other" propaganda. The actual tip over to madness for the average German was gradual. That is not what is happening here and now. We KNOW. We've read the books, attended the classes, watched the movies, seen the pictures, for fuck's sake, The History Channel played WWII on a loop 24 hours a day for like 10 years straight. In the United States now, the people who see circle and not square WANT to be inside the circle.... they KNOW. They've not swallowed the propaganda they wink, nudge each other and can't wait to participate. They WANT the shiny black suits, they WANT the deaths head pins, they want ALL OF IT. Even the ones who were saying, "we want cheap eggs and affordable gas". They are not stupid. They wanted to participate. For some of them now, they are finding out that only the ones that Rump and Mush choose specifically will get to participate. The rest, just like us, will either become victims or will become the Resistance. I choose to resist.
FWIW, the ppl I know who support Trump/Musk do not believe a war is coming, they believe that these guys are fixing the country and that life will be better for everyone (including the “legal” immigrants) once the ship is set aright, and to them any suggestion that there is or will be mass murder or incarceration is leftist propaganda meant to scare me. They wave off any suggestion of white supremacists or the Jan 6 rioters as a true issue, calling them fringe or not what we think they are. I don’t agree, obviously, but it is interesting to me that there’s a - probably very large - contingent of Trump voters who absolutely believe he’s a good guy who was attacked by liberals and never given a fair shot and is doing the absolute best and smartest things for the country.
PS oddly enough also deeply suspicious of and confrontational about “big pharma” but not willing to assign that distrust or fault to billionaire corporate CEOs/shareholders. I feel like this is the final frontier.
Amanda - This 100% describes my trump supporting family and friends. They are clueless, thoroughly convinced that he's doing wonderful things. 😑
Idk, alot of the trump supporters ik, much like you describe, have a touch of saddness in their eyes. I think its dawning on them that trump isnt going to make their lives any better. Oh well i guess. But the sadder they get the more they hate "lefty". They use that word like the nazis used jew. So in a roundabout way, they know whats up
Yes, Amanda, this describes the few supporters left in my life. My chronically unemployed cousin sounds exactly as you describe, while his disabled wife and homeschooled children are likely unvaccinated. He genuinely believes that I'm the misinformed one, and that the Cheato is saving the USA.
War is coming. The propaganda machine is hard at work spreading mis and dis information (more accurately, lies , lies , and damn lies. ) They will then say "see? War is because of...Ukrainians, jews, trangender folk, those gays, brown people, (and etc). Facebook and zuck is a right-wing platform very busy spreading the lies, and not to be trusted. Bezos just made wapo into a total right-wing platform, ending what was once a great paper. The only press I trust are the independents and foreign. Swear history is always a breath of fresh air.
We all need to be aware, stay informed of truth, and be prepared. Trump said it out loud even though we knew it before. War is coming and it is 100% due to the current corrupt traitorous republican administration
We have always been at war with Eurasia.
Actually war is here. Knowledge and information are under attack. Gaslighting has sucked in about 40% of the US citizens. The rest of us need to fight back however we can. Stop buying, especially from the oligarchs, attend protests, write and call your representatives, including the red ones. We need to participate in groups that are already organized, such as Indivisible, Working Peoples Party etc.
There is a long passage in answer to the question “Why do liberals think Trump supporters are stupid?” I'm not going to copy out the whole answer written by Adam-Troy Castro. The last two paragraphs say it all.
“What you don't get, Trump supporters, is that our succumbing to frustration and shaking our heads, thinking of you as stupid, may very well be wrong and unhelpful, but it's also...hear me... CHARITABLE.
Because if you're NOT stupid, then we must turn to the other explanations, and most of them are far less flattering.”
That Afrikaner MF needs to meet 90 grains of lead
Hoping for a murder-suicide involving Musk, Trump, Vance, and Mike Johnson.
Wishing death upon people because you disagree with them is the most hitler thing anyone could ever do.
Welp, my first Substack block. Goodbye Daniel. I hardly knew thee.
Dana, his profile is interesting, full of quotes by others, he seems somewhat condescending, (many self-styled philosopher types are) and superior. How do I block someone on this app?
This is about much more than simply disagreeing. It’s unfortunate that you choose not to see that.
Enlighten me, what is it about as you see it?
"OH you would kill Hitler?! Well that makes you just as bad as him!!!" primary school attempt at a gotcha.
You shouldn’t kill hitler just because of a disagreement. Hitler gives us all kinds of reasons to be killed beyond simple disagreement. That point is obvious
Except he's not killing them, he just wishes they'd do it to themselves, because they are going to cause/re causing great suffering and death. He's literally openly admitted to wanting Gaza ethnically cleansed, and sells the weapons, I think he'll cope with us saying he could do with the French Aristocrat experience.
Yet what's a good old old lady supposed to think when she sees her country slipping into a authoritorian dicktator narcissistic conman state of rules ? I'm not hitlertarean but wishful thinking for a reasonable ending with a unreasonable reactionists usually doesn't end well on any terms but their own ..so be it
I haven’t seen evidence of what you calling an “authoritarian dicktator”, narcissistic conman I’ll give you though. Show me a politician that isn’t? that’s the problem…
5.8 grams in the rest of the world. 😉
Or a grain of Fentanyl. Wouldn't be hard considering his habits.
At supersonic speed.
I would settle for infected hair plugs that melt his face.
Wow, that is a fucked up thing to say about anybody.
Not about MAGA turds
Yeah, still fucked up. This campy political bullshit is so immature
I spend as little time as possible on Facebook. I don't respond to any ads, just scroll past them. Unfortunately, I cannot leave Facebook completely as it is the only way so far of knowing what is happening with my city. It is the only way that I am aware of that the mayor and city council communicate with the community. I pay no attention to Twitter or TikTok. I have found Substack to be far more interesting and informative. Keep educating people, James.
I keep wondering about this. A few friends have complained about the same thing and I’m wondering if the code isn’t such that if you delete these types of posts, that it actually makes them more frequent?
My FB isn’t the cesspool everyone has been describing and my echo chamber is mostly resistance posts and info. But I’m not in the habit of deleting things…which makes me wonder
I'm with you, I'm not seeing this either. If anything, I see posts criticizing Musk. But then, most of my follows and likes are for liberal and democratic posts, writers and personalities. Wading into the comments is always a cesspool, but my feed itself is relatively aligned with my own views.
Try your city's Reddit. That's where I get most of my info and at least Reddit is moderated.
Nextdoor app. You can get local gov info & city officials are on there.
Here in Tucson, Nextdoor is filled with racist Karens reporting a brown person walking on their street.
Yep. I found NextDoor to be pretty awful. It also amplifies the scary (and racist)
Yeah, I'm in NE Ohio, most of it right now is "how are the roads?" and everyone piling on to say, "Look out the window, moron..." Not the greatest advertisement.
Same here in the West Valley of Phoenix. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried it and every time I get disgusted and give it up again.
Ours in Springfield MO is a mixed bag.
In Florida it's barking dogs...
Oh dear ghod NextDoor is more horrible than FB. Even in places like Portland which are allegedly liberal.
My HOA said not to use it, the have poor internet security, and I keep getting postcards from supposed neighbors, to join, who don't exist. There is no house with that address.
It’s mostly lost pets and “someone rang my doorbell…or tried my car doors last night😵💫
Try your city’s website.
It appears the “social media” age has reached a point of enshitification designed to drive decent folk out. I will miss the best of it. Those heady early days when the Al Gore rhythms actually let you hear from friends are long gone now, first chasing ever-rising profits, now chasing absolute power.
This ^^^^ My feed is nasty crap, like barely clad women who look like professional escorts in the reels and so-called "celebritities who I have no clue who they are begging for a follow.
Let me just say this. Fuck
This would be why the second Zuckerburg bent the knee to the fat, orange, bag of shit. I shut down my Facebook account and deleted EVERYTHING!
I am NOT going to waste my time with this asshole billionaire and his fascination with FASCISM!
Same
Highly recommend the book and HBO series, “Exterminate All the Brutes”
I’ve read the book and seen the show. They are actually quite different from each other.
I hope you’re on FB just to monitor this stuff because why else would you still be on FB? Why?
I see FB as a place to confront the bad guys and remind myself of the dearth of intelligence in the Republican party.
Because, even though liberal, my family and friends are still overwhelmingly on Facebook. Even those that have jumped to Bluesky primarily post to Facebook, partially because of the local marketplaces, businesses and groups available to them there, partially because of the character limitations.
Because that's still where my local businesses and organizations post their events.
Well, if you want to support Zuckerberg and Meta, it’s your choice. I got off FB five years ago and never looked back. I admit I stayed on Instagram for the dance videos, but I’m ready to let go. I’m just getting used to Bluesky, but I hope you can migrate there. Much more support and camaraderie.
Agreed. Supporting Zuckerberg, Bezos or Musk is like supporting the enemy. I couldn’t in good conscience do that. I think we have to stand together to drop all support for any of these 3. That includes no Amazon including all the companies included in Amazon’s holdings.
I'm on Bluesky. My family and friends are not.
Their loss. I get you, although you could speak up. It’s just too easy to do the easy thing, right?
Delete your fb why are you still on it?
Because I have 320,000 followers and use it to reach people with anti Nazi messages.
So you think.
I share your fear and the nasty orange shit-ass all but pulled the trigger hesterday. I'm interested in the history of totalitarianiam more than ever now, as are many other Americans-just ask the librarians while we still have them. What I worry is that we have been so brainwahsed by the white man's history they shoved down out our gullets all throughout our primary and secondary education that there is no hope of seeing the truth now. He tells obvious lies, says that things we know happened didn't happen, and his people get in line. What hope do we have to understand our past in a way that might help us put the brakes on this and hold them accountable when they are rewriting the present before our very eyes? Well before cancelling DEI they crushed the teaching of critical race theory and in my town, even the teaching of Mexican American studies to high schoolers- when they literally sit on land that was 'purchased' from Mexico not that long ago. Trump sits on a throne of lies, built by centuries of rewriting our stories to suit white men in power. I appreciate your writing, it's part of the solution, along with all the swearing, I'm convinced the anwers we need now lie the past, but only if we mine them for the truth, and it seems so slippery right now.
Everyone needs to dump Facebook and Twitter…enough already!
Easiest solution: Delete your Facebook account. Zuck is a Trump/Musk Cuck.