I’ve Been Missing Broadcasting.

But not for the reasons you may think. It’s not about wanting to be famous, or to make a pile of money.

I miss the chance to say something about what’s going on, that I haven’t heard anyone else say. So much of what we watch and read today is just Schadenfreude. If you don’t know this word, you should. Schadenfreude is:

“Pleasure derived from another person’s misfortune”

It’s a guilty pleasure. And a predictable one. Princeton University research has documented that people are actually biologically responsive to taking pleasure in the pain of others. In other words, it’s instinct. Much humor is derived from laughing at fools. And though we may not make as many widgets as we used to in America, the manufacturing of fools has seen record growth.

Whether you are a Snowflake or a Deplorable, Are you aware that you are being systematically manipulated by computer algorithms? Or worse, are you not aware?

Google, Facebook and Amazon are all spying on you (you knew that), and they are programming you. For profit. Thanks to big data, machines are learning to control us faster than we can even realize it’s happening.

They are making you dance. How? Why?

Consider #MeToo. Many of these offenses and offenders were well known, hush money, paid, and big stars were protected sometimes for decades… Why did it happen now? It’s not a stretch to think that the profit from a zillion clicks may have been the difference.

And you might say that’s a great thing, at last. I would agree, as long as we can pinpoint what has changed to prevent future Harvey Weinstein’s. And could we also explain why Al Franken’s fumbles were such a huge priority, or why Trump’s were not?

Before we credit social media with being the new sheriff in town, let’s acknowledge that the Internet gets paid for the hanging, not justice. And it has a bias towards anything that creates traffic.

I don’t want to go all DARK MIRROR on you, but what if algorithms decided a Social Media Lynch Mob would try these cases? What if they deduced who was guilty from their profiles and internet history? Information was already out there, it just needed a push. Once you have a target, fan the posts that have the greatest effect on the most people. You’ve identified those who fit the profile you need to grow audience.

The populace jumps at the bait.Verdicts are handed down. The clicks have spoken. Government and due process are being bypassed. In fact, government will soon be the enemy.

If you think it’s far fetched you still have a flip phone. And you’re not watching HOMELAND this season.

Now ask yourself this. Do we feel more or less safe? Did we have a conversation about Love and Respect? Have men and women come to an understanding about boundaries? Did we advance our culture?

Or was it all Schadenfreude?

And if you were a social media algorithm designed to generate clicks, would you want more or less of this profit making bad behavior? Ahh, there’s the conflict of interest.

Nice posts get very few clicks. Angry mobs are good for business. And Donald Trump is the biggest celebrity in the world. Uh oh.

Bob Rivers

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I will be leaving FACEBOOK, for the most part.
If you’d like to stay in touch, I’m going to do so from now on by email.

Your thoughtful opinions and insights matter to me. You can reach me by simply replying to any “Bob’s World” email.
And yes, the conversation is a 2 way street.

Last week I was invited to do 3 days of morning radio fill in on WWFX Worcester, with my cohost Zip, and a young part timer named Joni. Nice gal. 23, works with children. Bright. I apologized to her for the mess my generation has made of the world.

Management told us to have fun and do whatever we wanted. The people at Cumulus Worcester all chipped in to help us book guests, rig up extra microphones. It felt like a family. By the third day I wanted to be back on 5 days a week. I felt more alive than I’ve felt since 2014.

So I am putting it out there.

Please use the ‘Forward to’ link below to anyone you think may be interested, and I will put my best effort into writing.