Banned (briefly) on Facebook:
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or Paperback
*Please note:
Links to books and other items on this page and elsewhere on Greg Ladens' blog may send you to Amazon, where I am a registered affiliate. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, which helps to fund this site.
“We are star stuff, harvesting star light”
Sagan could sure turn a phrase! Bill-yuns and bill-yuns.
I would like more information on this “Banned (briefly) on Facebook,” statement.
MIKE: This is what I’ve got. The following is a quote from a note on facebook:
I had a rather uncanny experience last night when I tried to post a link to Carl Saganâ??s “Origins” in YouTube.
I got this rather ominous response “Some content in this message has been reported as abusive by Facebook users.” and I could not post the link to this quite innocent piece where Carl Sagan tells about his views on evolution, which are based solely on scientific facts.
I still hope that it was just a technical glitch, as I could post the same piece later that night without trouble. Very troubling was however that this was the very first time ever that I heard that Facebook even has systems in place that make it possible to prevent publishing information that is deemed to be of a wrong kind.
This incident hints that lurking in the wings is readymade system for monitoring the content published on the userâ??s Facebook-profiles. It is however no wonder that there are such systems, as it has been made clear on many instances that platform-providers are held responsible for the user content that is published in their systems.
I am very worried about these developments, as available means of censorship always breed possibilities to start using it to suppress not only criminal or on offending material on the personal or racial level, but also the material that is deemed as politically or ideologically wrong by the some vocal political or ideological groups out there.
I am at the same time really worried sick about the campaign by the Arabic OIC-countries to label offending religious sensitivities as criminal offence in the ongoing UN Durban II – conference concentrating on racism.
A resolution by an official-sounding unit of the United Nations would be a handy tool in preventing any criticism of the Islamic ideology that is much, much more than just a set of personal beliefs. Islam is a very active and potent political and social force in very many societies and stopping criticizing it is simply not an option for people like me.
The really troubling thought is that Facebook already has in place tools that would eventually to make it possible to filter away all the content that anybody with religious ideology will deem as offensive.
The funniest thing here is that if things on my Facebook-page would never reach the eyes of those really taking offence from it, as my Facebook-circle is made up of nonbelievers, freethinkers, agnostics, atheist, humanists and secularists.
Facebook is for me a tool for networking in just these circles and losing ability to post things interesting just these people would force at least me to leave Facebook for good.
Btw. the Carl Sagan-video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShJwq3aPLMk&feature=PlayList&p=C599FFF859B905C2&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=5
PS. Another troubling thought is that Facebook would be following the system in place in YouTube that makes it possible to report abusive content. This system is now widely misused by the religious extremists to mark all material that is critical to their faith. We all are in trouble if Facebook would take this system and swallow it whole, as it is critically biased as it exists now.
From Jaakko Wallenius’s Notes
Greg, Thanks for the explanation. Good summary of a troubling trend.
In my opinion the largest threat for California are cataclysms and ecological catastrophes. Not important is how many money we have because one tragedy can us take all.
Greg,
I have already heard that FB bars pics of breast feeding. I too find it puzzling since only your friend circle can see anything other than your name and pic.
Actually, you can change which people are able to see what parts of your profile in the Privacy Settings page (Top menu bar: Settings: Privacy Settings), from everyone to no one. This allows you to make your profile completely public if you wish.
§
Seeing this clip from Cosmos sure brings back fond memories. I was just fifteen years old when it originally aired, and I was glued to the television for every episode. The only other series that kept me enthralled like that was Joseph Campbell’s The Power of Myth with Bill Moyers.
It’s been said that Cosmos has been seen by over 500 million people in 60 countries, making it the the most widely watched PBS series in the world. So why are so many people still stuck in a Bronze Age mentality? Oh yeah, many people refuse to even listen to anything that might suggest that their religious beliefs are not based on cold hard facts.
This is a troubling trend indeed, but Sagan probably would not have been surprised by it. I consider myself lucky to have first seen Cosmos when I was coming of age. I can’t begin to calculate the profound effect Sagan had on my appreciation of science and critical thinking.
Thanks for posting this, Greg. I hope you won’t mind that I nipped the video for my own blog — with credit, of course.
For those who may not have heard, the entire run of Cosmos is available for free viewing on Hulu.