Barbra Streisand speaks only for herself. Not all Democrats, or all women, or people with big noses. She has a right to her opinion. Some people agree with her. Some don’t.
Donald Trump is making me gain weight. I start the day with liquids, but after the morning news, I eat pancakes smothered in maple syrup!
— Barbra Streisand (@BarbraStreisand) March 5, 2017
I don’t.
Food doesn’t make you fat. Putting it in your mouth does.
But I do care at least as much about the First Amendment as the Second Amendment. And that’s why I’m here to tell you that Trolls and Memes are here to stay.
Yes, they are bad for you. Like too much ice cream. And, like ice cream, it takes more willpower than I have to completely give them up.
A ‘Meme‘ is a virally-transmitted captioned photo that is intended to be funny, often as a way to publicly ridicule human behavior. I don’t care who posts them (I have), occasionally they are wicked funny, but often they are immature taunts. And we should be ashamed of ourselves. Often.
Why are they so popular? Because they are like a verbal BB Gun. Bang bang. Ouch. Ha ha. No real damage done. You hope.
Trolls and the act of trolling are more sophisticated, which would seem counter-intuitive. But trust me, they are very powerful and potentially dangerous. That’s what worries Streisand. Trump trolls with the best.
40% of you are going to hate me for this, but I think it’s his First Amendment right.
Trolls come in various categories, like Bots, Sockpuppets, and garden variety Trolls who might just be your neighbor who watches too much Hannity or Rachel Maddow. I have a friend who calls her Rachel MadCow. He’s trolling me. Trolling is a bipartisan sport. You want to join in if it’s your side, and you find it offensive if it’s the other team. Just like the Yankees and the Red Sox. Your team is great. The other side sucks. Boo!
Then there are Bots. And Sockpuppets.
Bots are fully automated fake social media accounts that spread disinformation and divisiveness.
Sockpuppets are accounts that are created to look like a real person. Sockpuppets are at least partially controlled by a human, where bots are fully automated via code.
It’s not a stretch to say that a sophisticated Bot is fully automatic and Sockpuppets is a semi-automatic First Amendment weapon.
You see where I’m going with this.
I’m a huge fan of the First Amendment.
But we need to be responsible Mouth Owners. There should be a safety so your flapper doesn’t accidentally shoot off. And we might ask why anyone should have a fully or semi automatic First Amendment weapon.
You see the algorithms of social media are manipulating us, potentially turning us all into an angry mob of bigots. The computers who pick our content are dumbing us down in the service of the short attention span clickbait economy. We fight each other so Mark Zuckerberg can become even more insanely rich. The more they rile us up, the more ads they sell.
We’re better than that in real life.
Online we’re a collection of “Deplorables” and “Snowflakes”.
In person I have friends as nutty as Barbra Streisand or Steve Bannon and everything in between. And I can love them and get along, because we are all just imperfect people, and because I know them not as stereotypes but as individuals.
Online everything is a menace. In person we all have a lot in common and we are mostly polite to each other.
Trump is a master at playing in this new paradigm. You can’t hurt him by trolling him. That’s how you pay tribute. He loves it!
So unless Mueller finds the smoking “emails” that “lock him up”, suck it up buttercup.
Welcome to the First Amendment gun show.
