The United States cannot “guarantee” that it will not default on its debts in two weeks.
Pause.
The United States cannot “guarantee” that it won’t willfully, spitefully, pointlessly and needlessly risk throwing the national and global economies into unprecedented chaos, risking financial ruin for millions of Americans, almost certainly triggering a deep recession (if not worse), and destroying any remaining trace of American integrity.
Longer pause.
We are now suicide bomber international terrorists, because of jihadist crazies who don’t care if THEY are destroyed, as long as they “stick it” to whomever they deem stick-worthy.
The crazies have long wanted a back-door theocracy.
Then they tried to engineer an autocracy.
Now they have succeeded in turning the United States of America into a Toddlerocracy.
Petulant children playing with matches. And they don’t care who are what gets burned down.
I’ve been on Facebook since 2010. Here is now it went down. I was the host of a San Antonio news/sports talk weekday radio show. One Friday afternoon, the Big Boss hastily called a staff meeting. We were told (and “we” certainly included me) that if we weren’t on Facebook by Monday morning, that we didn’t need to bother coming to work, because we would no longer be employed.
Well. Since you put it that way…
Seems “consultants”–in their never-ending quest to cover their own asses, perpetuate their existence and deflect blame and attention from their earlier failures–had decided that social media in general and Facebook in particular were the new “It Girl” in broadcasting. And we all had to make sure that whatever Lola wanted, Lola got.
Until that Friday afternoon, I’m not sure I could have spelled “Facebook.” I was vaguely familiar with the concept, and to the extent that I was, I found it silly.
Fast forward eleven years. I was right.
I gave it a shot. You know, a decade-plus long “shot.”
I missed. So did Facebook.
Part of being Rational (with a capital “R”) is being deliberative. I don’t make snap judgments on important subjects. I wait until the evidence is conclusive. You know, “I do my own research.” (Please know that I’m at this moment rolling my eyes.)
From the jump, my purpose for being on Facebook was a little different than that of almost everyone else. My Facebook “footprint” was simply an extension of my radio show. Sure, I shared stories about kids, grandkids and dogs, but mostly my Facebook persona was just a digital version of my radio show, “Bringin’ It.”
And, candidly and transparently, THAT in turn became the precursor for “Radically Rational.”
And, understand this. It worked, at least in that respect. It worked spectacularly. It continues to work spectacularly.
But the evidence is now conclusive. The jury is in. I’ve done my deliberation. I have “done my research.”
Social media in general, and Facebook in particular, have become a “net negative,” both on the personal and societal level.
They have made it easy to promote lies and suppress truth. They have promoted human animus, polarization and exploitation. They have enabled us to cloak evil in anonymity.
Facebook is a failure.
Facebook has not caused our problems, and scapegoating Zuckerberg is childish and pointless. But Facebook has become a National Gas Can that turns every grassfire into a Towering Infernal (not a typo).
And as Facebook became untethered from truth and facts, so did our entire national discourse.
And…here we are.
More tomorrow.
