Let Freedom Rant

By Susan Bergeron

May 12: I sucked in a deep breath, fixed my finger on the button and pushed down hard. It was done. In a second I'd put an end to the daily nearly indigestible salad of hatred, humor, love, bullying, shock, lies, scams and internet friendships that have made Facebook my frenemy over the years. It's not the first time. I "went dark" in 2014 for two years, until several days after Donald Trump* was elected. I have to admit, during that time I never missed it at all! Only intending to take a short break, I was surprised how much I didn't miss it. As each day passed, the feeling of freedom and the new chunk of time added to my daily schedule gave me the sense that my life had returned to one no longer lived in a goldfish bowl.

I'm an opinionated poster, passionate about issues that effect all Americans and I don't care if people agree with me. You risk getting hurt when you put yourself out there. At least I know who I am. I'm a big mouth liberal left-leaning centrist who has been a lifelong Democrat. I'm disgusted by the usual "ism"s and "phobia"s---like racism, xenophobia, etc. And I lend my voice to speak up against it for those who can't. I'm a giver and a doer. I don't just sit around on the net just tap-tap-tapping all day. I have put into practice that which I espouse. (At least until the pandemic cut me off at the knees). Now it is much harder. Activism is limited to phone calls and letter writing mostly. To effect change people have to actually do stuff!

I have a big problem with Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook. First, I will give him credit for inventing this genius platform that allows families and friends a way to connect and keep in touch. And I'll aslo say, in fairness, I've been amazed how many times I've been allowed to call him out on his very own platform, without ever being censored. But is the price we've all had to pay for this "free" service worth it? It didn't have to be this way. But for pure unadulterated greed, we could have been protected from the selling away of our privacy and our shameful exposesure to unvetted incendiary political ads that promote absolute falsehoods by our president. I would rather have paid a small fee, as with cable TV, than get hammered continually with annoying and often bogus ads, and have my privacy continually sold away to Google and other mega corporations who invade our daily lives, and being told the lie "don't worry, it's only meta data." Mark Zuckerberg has been caught lying to Congress. Facebook's fines have been akin to throwing a few deck chairs off the Titanic to tip the bow back up after ripping through an iceberg. In a big old nose thumb to the world, he recently proposed the digital blockchain currency "Libra"---a further attempt to take over the cyber world by introducing Facebook's own money!---bitcoin currency. It's a totally untraceable form of currency begging for abuse by terrorist groups and outside political operatives trying to subvert the U.S. election process. 

There are many improvements I could suggest to the social media platform. One is the ability to upload and post one's stories in document form. Presently, we only see this with web links. But I'd like to see Facebook visitors be able to click a tab on a person's dashboard and open longer pieces such as short stores and op-eds. It would separate the brief lighter comments, photos, jokes, and links from literary works that folks wish to share. (I'm not talking about the "My story" feature with the short format and a short lifespan that seems pretty popular with folks.) Facebook was never meant to be a place to present written works or short stories. But why not? It has evolved into many things over the years, constantly expanding to the needs and desires of its users. As a writer, I tend to be windy and, try as I might, I've often found it hard to edit my FB posts down to easily digestible sound bites. I've been accused of writing novels, killing trees and spilling gallons of ink more than a few times. But I've spotted a trend since Trump got elected: So have many other writers started to push the limits of their Facebook posts! And it's becoming tolerated more as the times seem to require it. This is a time of great distress, when massive numbers of needless deaths are piling up. Political unrest like none other in our lifetime has caused Facebook to become the new version of standing on the corner soapbox. 

Writing to the editorial pages of the local paper is a whole other experience. During Rainbow Month, I once wrote a piece railing against a rogue professor who was paid by the state and continually insulted the LBTGQ students who attended his college classes. The great newspaper man Edward Achorn, in charge of the editorial board, patiently worked with me to get the opinion piece published in what is a family paper. A strict task master, he had rules: 250 words and not a word more, no inflamatory language, no personal attacks no swear words. Back and forth the document went through our email. Long periods would ensue and I'd lose heart. I assumed the paper had gotten a lot of letters in response to the student who had protested about this professor in his letter to the editor. Mr. Achorn must have given up on me. Thinks I'm an incorrigable hack. But then it would return in my inbox again with another note: Could you find a one word alternate for "mentally deficient trogladyte?" I threw myself totally into it, seeing it as a wonderful learning experience and counted myself lucky to be mentored by a towering scholar and writer the likes of Edward Achorn. Writing for the newspaper is very different than foaming on Facebook---it requires discipline and retraint. But finally, I received a message: "I'm pleased to inform you that your letter should appear in our Saturday edition." It made it in just at the end of Rainbow Month and was well received. I was touched when members of the gay community actually sought me out on Messenger and sent thank yous for supporting them in their cause.

Here, I feel safe and will continue to carry on as The Witness. I will return to Facebook again, I'm sure, but hopefully in better days. For those who have trolled me, taunted me, insulted me and exposed their illiterate stupidity and ignorance on Facebook, I say: You'll never take me alive! When the fascists and the despots and killers of freedom jail all their political opponents, silence the free press and darken democracy, art has always been the last weapon of defense. Hoist your pens aloft, you keepers of the flame!