So the President has been totally cleared of any collusion with Russia. Several friends have pointed out with interest/disgust that much of the public and most of the media are not reacting to this good news as one might expect one to react, but rather, they are reacting with anger. One might question the priorities at work here. But I’m not going to discuss that.
Far and away, my biggest issue with all of this has nothing to do with the President, or Russia, or even the election. My problem is with the American public. Not you, of course, dear reader, if you happen to be a citizen of the U.S., I k ow your critical thinking skills are fine (you’re here reading this, aren’t you) but the rest of these bastards…holy shit. Okay, let me back up…this has been eating at me for years, so let’s catch you up.
In the aftermath of what for some of us was a very predictable election, a significant chunk of the electorate seemed to find themselves in shock. It was a shock so profound as to demand things like denial and a sort of paranoia as coping mechanisms. When allegations of direct interference by foreign powers in the elections began being bandied about, I assumed it was indeed “direct” interference…I was thinking that some Russian or Chinese hacker had accessed the electoral computers and altered the numbers, like added a “1” to the front, changing whichever candidates, 6 million votes to 16 million. THAT would have been not only direct interference, but the sort of egregious direct interference that would have legitimately triggered alarm bells immediately after the election.
But that’s not what happened. Not even close. In the weeks the followed, it became clear that the nefarious and insidious “direct” interference was the suspicion that a non- American entity had created numerous fake ads and “news stories” on Facebook. That’s it. I was flabbergasted. It’s been two years and I still don’t know where to start. so in no particular order:
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If you get your news or form your political opinions or really base anything at all on what you see in Facebook, you will absolutely get what you deserve. Surely you must know that 100% of Facebook exists to sell advertising in one form or another. By voluntarily filling in all the blanks it offers you about who you are, you are providing Facebook and it’s advertisers unbelievably precise and detailed information about who you are, your political and religious beliefs, and your spending habits. This information is invaluable to Facebook as it can now sell surgically targeted demographics lists. Knowing that, one should not be at all surprised when it seems like the advertisements you get on Facebook feel almost like they know you. There is no almost about it…they do know you. You’ve spent years telling them exactly who, where, what, and why you are.
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Advertisements have always, always, always, on television and in print, long before the World Wide Web was conceived, been designed solely to manipulate people and their behavior and are therefore not to be trusted. It does not matter who is paying for the advertising. Take any of the “legitimate,” American-based non-political ads that you see everyday: you you really think that Pepsi, Dodge, or AT&T have your best interests in mind? Nope. Your well being could not matter less to them: they are trying to get you to do or buy something. Charities, no different: Sarah McLachlan with her late-night parade of abused and shivering dogs does not care about you. They may not care about those dogs. The purpose of that commercial is, like the ones from GMC or Hershey’s, to get you to send money. The NFL, MLB, and NBA…all commercials. You think you’re watching a game that somehow matters in the real world (it does not), but you are really voluntarily exposing yourself to several thousand branded messages per hour. All reality shows: commercials. Glorified infomercials. Some are more blatant than others, but still, all of them. But anything you see on the website is going to be far more dangerous than anything on TV because it is so specifically targeted to you.
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Due to the ad-funded nature of the web, the line between journalism/news and advertising get so perversely blurred 20 years ago, all news sites and stories need to viewed as gloried ad campaigns trying to yes, get your money but also often trying to get your vote through any means necessary.
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Political ad campaigns are always abhorrent and it has long been common knowledge that candidates and private organizations associated with those candidates run smear campaigns designed to play on the emotional s or feelings of voters rather than deal with objective facts. Why would we suddenly be upset if the party paying for the smear campaign is Russian? A critical thinker will discount all advertising and conduct their own research.
I could rail against this shit all night, but I don’t have all night. So I’ll cut to the business: you have a responsibility to yourself, your loved ones, and your bank account to develop rigorous and ruthless critical thinking skills.
If I had been super by such a clear and pimp attempt at manipulation, I wouldn’t go around telling anybody about it. But apparently several million of my fellow Americans were so duped and their reaction was to be aggrieved and blame Russia and the President and anybody else who’s stand still long enough to get a target painted on them.
N.P.: “I’m Not Afraid” – Emigrate, Cardinal Copia
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