UPDATE: On cue, the Washington Post has joined the mischaracterization of social media rumble, through the lens of a columnist. As the stretch run to the election continues, the playbook of digital media outlets to clear the temporary societal browser cache and and typecast F***book as a refuge for conservative dogma is the state-of-the-art hip maneuver to influence undecided voters in weaving an instant conspiracy.
2016 was a magical 365 days for substantive mental gymnastics maneuvers that even streaming highlights of Mary Lou Retton’s elegantly perfect Olympic aerial snark to the comprehensive gravity celebrating its 32 birthday, failed to crack the social media trending news list of the top 10 at ten. As collectively brilliant as the tech industry is in certain disciplines, they are at the core geeks, affluent and powerful nerds at that, but still capable of some fairly head-scratching fails that rival a crazed lunatic allergic to bees tossing a rock into a yellow jacket nest in the seasonal kill phase from point blank range. While F***book took their trending news human moderation team, which replaced automated bots, to a corporate firing squad, and subsequently replaced the terminated live staff with automated bots, proved to be authentically wayward in a California legislative session sort of vibe, with elected officials spastically jabbering like a mob of Emperor penguins in suits and blouses trying to approve a bridge.
It was leaked shortly after that employees were instructed to bury conservative content, and the controversy exploded. The aforementioned liberal-leaning Washington Post published this story profiling the circus atmosphere of subjugation surrounding the F***book team of hunters and destroyers of right-inspired news stories. The gutless narrative of social network subversion was etched into history as an example of how not to manage a diversified electronic community, however, certain members of the new digital media are eager to play revisionist, defacing the founding tenets of journalism in warping ethics, and what is construed as fact. This transcends the atrocious approach by Zuckerberg and cronies to management, and ineffective sensitive data custodial practices, and the presence of shadowy grant money tying the corporation government agencies and other organizations.
Blame should be shared on both sides of the political ledger, as the damage caused by disinformation distorts fact, wastes valuable time, energy, and money, and kills innovation. While the purveyors of QAnon should be ashamed, this is a tale about a group of qualified and talented individuals blatantly dodging the truth for the sake of posturing and lobbying to confuse readers and earn Biden more votes. In some arcane and distraught parallel universe, the attempt is being made to flip the overwhelming evidence of F***book’s distaste for the right side of the political ledger and tout the social network as detrimental environment for liberals. And this is only the beginning in a arduous and brutal streetfight with dull and heavy weaponry.
Fortunately, for the pocket protector donning Mark Zuckerberg’s of the information age, their nocturnal emission fantasy of a Light Cycle Tesla, as a relevant testament to pop culture, crammed full of devices and with no bodacious babes physically present save for a smattering of meeting requests on dating apps, gives them immunity to criticism or responsibility for their awesome blunder. That, and a inexhaustible revenue stream retaining legal sharks on level that easily surpasses the courtroom acumen of Doctor Gonzo’s attorney and Johnny Cochrane combined. On the other hand, four years is simply too long to retain a sensible short-term memory for certain journalistic organizations that pawn themselves off as valuable news portals when there is a vested ulterior motive. And is is only getting worse.
With half of the country researching and inventing new terms and afflictions to justify their marathon 1400 days and counting perpetual emotional outburst to Trump sprinkled with some intellectual elements, the strain of the overt stubborn oppositional defiance has taken it’s toll on the explosion of the journalism industry, which has resulted with the exponentially relevant platforms conducive to electronic newsrooms and editorial bureaus. Ironically, as accountability has dwindled and ethical standards diminished as consequences of the expansive content producing marketplace, the collaboration between social media outlets, and loosely labeled news portals, has grown into a full-blown shotgun marriage, and politics is at the center of everything. Popular sites catering to progressive audiences such as Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, and Politico, which were born in the second digital renaissance in the harried days leading to the recession, have bartered their collective souls and remnants of patriotism in the sick game and cerebral justification of pathologically attempting to rationalize the Trump presidency.
Politico in particular has hurtled into the land of delusion by posting an article arguing that F***book caters to conservatives on a multitude of levels, and somehow gives end users right of center and candidates an edge over their democratic counterparts. The article was not labeled as an editorial, but as a “tech” news story. This is a case of deliberate malice, or intellectual dishonesty, and epitomizes the shift of moderate information sources to the very brink of doublethink and the deconstruction of truth. Regardless of the sordid vehicles of deception, the motive to misrepresent the facts is clear, disparage an adversary for political gains.
The exhaustive liberal bias proliferated by the brass and employees of the social media giant, and for that matter the majority of the tech hierarchy is a unanimous fact that even school children know. The earth is round (well, not according to an alarming and growing percentage of the generations who are undecided about the shape of the planet), the sky is blue, and water is wet. Tell that to the tens of thousands of right of center groups and gun clubs who have seen their reach to loyal subscribers tumble from near 100% on posts, to just 20% regardless of political or informational content, thanks to the presence of the ominous bots, and the influence of their human overlords.
The recent offending post published on Politico, a domain which fact checking sites unanimously determine to be left of center, illustrates the disconnect relatively smart people and profitable organizations display when in proximity to an one-sided agenda (I think, therefore I am). Speaking of fact checking, with every instance of propaganda disseminated throughout the web, it takes a monumental effort to flag the specific content, and execute damage control.
The article not only discounts the shady past and revolving door of F***book’s ADD moderation policy and insidious presence of algorithms geared at limiting conservative content, but cites data parsed from a F***book subsidiary to substantiate the theory that right-wing figureheads are somehow receiving preferential treatment. Campaign advertising buys on the social network for both candidates is briefly mentioned, but the fact that certain Trump ads were removed was omitted from the text. Overall, the writing style is competent and informed, but the writer may be oblivious to the notion that everything recorded and archived during the initial stages of the information age, will have lasting ramifications on how generations in the future perceive the current era of subdued chaos.
The self-aggrandizing and sanctimonious mentality of heavily biased editors and writers is insufferable as the focal point of the argument is continuously shifted, or in this case, the willingness to simply fabricate strategic mistruths. (A pair of political bloggers meet at a bar. The liberal says, “I promise not to cite the Southern Poverty Law Center, if you promise not to quote the Cato Institute.” The conservative responds, “I’d agree, but F***book and Twitter have already blocked me.” The liberal gives a look of genuine surprise and coughs down a drink.)
While the bias of F***book and the tech industry in general is obvious to even a certain lethally oblivious governor of Washington state, who claimed in a live television gubernatorial debate that he chose to widely ignore the lawlessness and violence of the CHAZ/CHOP autonomous zone, the hysteria and desperation of the election is already negatively impacting the decision making matrix in some individuals. The critical issue with the Politico slant is that the portal is perceived as serviceably reliable and certainly not a radical outfit, but the audacity of credible news organizations to resort to such vile and underhanded tactics is a negative consequence to the health of the nation and society as a whole.
It is no mystery that Silicon Valley is infected by the liberal bug, and the digital brand names have each contributed to indiscretions in persecuting or silencing those with a differing ideology. However, the noxious presence of incredulous taking points and theories has tempted to media outlets to adopt an unrealistic and delusional world view that conservatives are in fact being embraced throughout the digital hinterland, an unbelievable perspective that is quite apparent throughout the Politico piece, touting the F***book advantage myth as the ceaselessly ugly and reprehensible struggle of epic attrition on all fronts in the race for the White House.
Given time, the entire compilation of global issues will be attributed republicans, and the adorable arm chair philosopher game of contrarianism will not seem cute or trendy anymore.
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