Say goodbye to this, folks....
So, I think I am done with it. Yeah. I think I am.
I was never a big Facebooker to begin with. It took me a while to get to a level of appreciating what it could do as far as reconnecting with people. I also know the damage it does. As my friend Mark says, the motto of Facebook should be “Rekindling old relationships while destroying current ones.” But that is not why I am bowing out.
This week, a colleague of mine wrote something that some people found offensive and repugnant. OK, it was a little dicey maybe, but it is a column, and as such he can air his thoughts and grievances, even if they are a little warped. The other side of that coin is, as a writer you had better be ready to take the heat.
I’ve been called all sorts of names. On my bulletin board in my office is a “Dry Martino” that was cut from an issue by a reader. The column is called “I’m A Pisces Bastard.” I used the word “suck” in it. The reader wrote on top: “Don’t you assholes know any decent words? F.U.” Point made. Kind of, I guess. I have been called out for saying I am a bad Catholic, labeled a whiner, effeminate and so on. But what my Press brother is going through is worse. Much worse.
Once his column was picked up by a Google Alert, people made it their job to harass. Again, that’s cool. Call him every name in the book. They want him fired—which is not going to happen—or worse. Disembowled. Lynched. Set ablaze. Part of this campaign of stupidity was going to his Facebook page and using his photo, bombarding him with messages and worse.
So now they have gone from pissed-off readers to cyberterrorists.
And suddenly, you realize how wide open you are when you are an active social networker. The pictures of the barbecue from the summer, which you thought were harmless and showed how good you look in a bathing suit, are public fodder, people. With the right click of a mouse these images can be copied, saved and used everywhere. I am patently against photos of me being used by anyone but me on their Facebook page. A few exist—against my will—but I only have one pic on my page—the obligatory profile shot.
Let me be clear: I do not get Mafia Wars. All I know is, I was promoted somehow and I have never actually played, if that is even possible. If I wanted to be a farmer, I’d move to Idaho, so I don’t get that game, either. Plus, the commercial proliferation of Facebook has just turned me off like a light switch.
I am a pretty social guy. That is to say, I am a friendly sort who knows lots of people. I don’t think I need Facebook to keep my friends. And, truth be told, if I went through my hundreds of Facebook friends, many are not friends at all. It has been useful at times, but not so much that I cannot do without it. Plus, it keeps suggesting people for me to friend that I don’t want to accept. Oh yeah, I love the “Help make this person enjoy Faceboook more” prompts. It is setting up a cyberplaydate, and I don’t wanna go.
Now, seeing how nefarious individuals will use it to hurt and defame, I think I am ready to pull the veil of anonymity back up and go behind the curtain. It is more my way, after all. If I want to speak to my family or friends, I’ll call them or e-mail or something.
They can reach me here in the meantime.
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