Social media is a flaming garbage dump.

There was a time I enjoyed logging into Facebook to see what was going on with my friends and family; it was so nice to see pictures of what they were doing, sometimes they would post food pictures, occasionally it was inspirational news -- somebody would have a baby, other times someone would be graduating from college, someone had a kid who was on the honor roll at their school and ultimately all these things were positive and good and I look forward to seeing stories and posts about that this was probably about six or seven years ago on Facebook first took off as a new thing.

I remember playing ridiculous time waster games like Farmville and some cheap Dungeons and Dragons knockoff game or bejeweled badness or whatever the hell it was called, I honestly don't even remember how many idiotic quizes I did to find out what my spirit animal was or which cast member of The Lord of The Rings I was most like... This was way back at the dawn of a new age -- an age that was still not hyper-political that was probably back when Obama was President. For those first eight years it seemed there wasn't much in the way of politics, with the occasional news going on about something, but it wasn't overwhelming partisan nonsense by any means, in fact I'd say it was close to non-existent in the infancy of the Big Tech giants... but all good things must come to an end.

The thing unbeknownst to me (and many others) was that Obama had already been consolidating and utilizing the data; his campaign and administration had access to the personal records of people on Facebook. A lot of people believe that "metadata" somehow is not data.

Metadata is in fact the most important kind of data. It's the kind of data that can swing elections if it's applied with that intent and it was, by one side, the Democrats.

The Democrats gathered and used this information through deception and concealment ( two of the main features of Left leaning politics) but as is usual the left's idea of what moral is conflicts with any sane definition.

To be fair, perhaps "the Right" were just late to the game and if Conservatives had access to these new psychological tools, they would have utilized the same technology more effectively earlier; it's obvious they didn't believe that it was going to be as big as it was or as valuable and so they allowed the Democrats to have their "internet."

In other words The GOP was, and continues to be completely ineffectual and ineffective as is usual by the Republican party, (no news there.) It allowed the Left wing to forge a rock solid foothold into yet another aspect of American Life: the new unplowed field of social media.

It wouldn't be until Donald Trump ran for office that he turned the hose back on the Democrats and used their own techniques & data against them.

This could not go unpunished.

This historic upset in a Presidential race mobilized the folks on Twitter, Facebook, Google, (I'm not helping to generate revenue by providing links to these sites) and all the other tech companies in ways that would have been unimaginable previously.

Anecdotally, I can tell you, at this moment in time I can literally post on Twitter and watch it become downgraded within 30 seconds of my posting. The reason for this is varied but it tends to happen more frequently and more rapidly when I post standard "conservative" perspective; this offends our social media overlords who feel that my ideas, thoughts, and musings are not fit to be top billing in any of the comment threads that I might make or be replying to. Despite having generated more than 12,000 followers.

To my mind this is how weak their arguments are; Think about it, if they need to hide my statements which are in no way offensive, that means they have already lost the argument and they know it. this is why they need to censor this is why they need to stop speech this is why they can't allow an idea to even be spoken because if it is it might open someone's mind in a direction they don't agree with and that is the most unacceptable outcome of all.

This was all put into high resolution during the 2020 election when the Hunter Biden scandal hit and for no other reason than social media didn't like it, they decided unilaterally to stifle the story. For weeks people could literally not find any information regarding this massive and blatant levels of corruption. Now that the election is over that has changed to some degree but it's already damaged the integrity of the election to a degree beyond repair.

Not only was there lack of transparency in voting counts, not only were vote totals giving statistically impossible results, but the means through which we disseminate our news was broken.

Now it would seem the CEOs got what they wanted, and this sets a horrific precedent.

If this level of misinformation and information consolidation worked this time, both they and you know it will work for the next election, into perpetuity. It doesn't help that the Democrats who are in office will stop at nothing to change rules. If they can't guarantee wins, "the democracy" they claim they want to protect becomes "the problem" in their eyes, simply for allowing the possibility for them to fail.

What needs to happen for them to feel that they are in fact the superior moral beings they claim they are, they need to wipe the possibility of failure out in part by claiming EVERY. SINGLE. TIME, a Republican wins, it is due to a failure of the system, while every time a Democrat wins it is the people speaking truth to power.

It's the old heads I win, tails you lose, strategy. It never ends by design, it's a constant search for power without any way to satisfy this beast.

I wish social media stayed social media, instead of becoming the political propaganda machine for the Democrat party.

It's one of many reasons why we can't have nice things, someday perhaps, the country can unify and reorient itself as a center right country based on the ideals spelled out in the Declaration of Independence and and the Constitution again, but I certainly don't see it happening anytime soon, and I for one am certainly not going to unify with any party that has to use these tactics to force its malevolence on the society it claims it wants to protect. Once this election is concluded you can be sure I'll keep Facebook but only to monitor people who I know to see if anyone died or if anyone is born... that is what social media has become for millions, the sad thing is the potential was so ripe for true greatness; I imagine the same could be said for television.

Some things never change.