PROPAGANDA MADE EASY

       I read a sad piece in the paper about a 19 year old who shot and killed 10 people.

       This killer had read some racist material on line and became convinced that he should kill people not of the white race. 

       It was once very difficult to reach people with a message unless you were a leader of some kind or had buckets of money to advertise. 

      The internet has made it easy to set up sites that can reach millions. The internet allows us to easily make up a site that is attractive and eye catching. People start to read something and it sounds reasonable to them. They bungle into more of the same message very easily by clicking on a few links.

     People use the facilities of the internet to easily communicate what ever idea comes to their head. Many times it can be racist , violent or to an extreme political view.

     So is it time to put some control on internet sites that allow people easy access to millions ?

     As bloggers, most of us enjoy communicating about interests we have. I reach around 160 people with my own expertise to set up a blog. With more skill and interest someone can easily set something up that catches more fish.

     So is it time to create some regulations that prevent the extreme and dangerous messages from being easily publicized? This would be far from easy. The free speech people would have their say. The bad guys would not like to see their rights taken away. 

      Where will this end?

WHAT'S THE MESSAGE

         

       I used this photo in my last post. I haven't forgotten that I used it. 

      Today I have another reason for showing this photo.

       This photo illustrates one of the negative aspects of society What does this photo tell us?

       So take a look at what this photo may say. Let's hear some opinions . Maybe we could get an argument going here!

SOME FACEBOOK FRIENDS ARE A NUISANCE

    I have a small face book account of a little over 100 friends.  When I opened my face book account I thought it was an excellent place to keep up with relatives.

    When you're on face book other people find you. So now I not only have family but former students, colleagues and other people I know.

    I found that the family contact more or less dried up. Many other people are lurkers. I don't know if they follow me at all.

   I do use face book to publicize my blog. I do click on things I like. For example a former student was our city archivist and he posts all kinds of photos. I have another friend who is a photographer. David takes many good photos and I tell him I like them.  I wish people happy birthday, but I rarely post anything.

    All of this is very harmless.

    However, there are a couple of friends who find themselves deep into right wing politics so there are times I get many despicable messages. They get these messages from some site and then pass them on over their face book page. They haven't checked these messages for any validity at all. I don't like getting racist messages. I don't like messages that criticize politicians in a personal way. Debate the issues but leave the mudslinging out of it. It's difficult enough for a politician to serve as well as get abuse. I get messages on the economy that have no basis whatsoever. Whoever wrote the message did not do any research whatsoever. They listened to somebody spout off. They will not look at government statistics as they have the mistaken idea that these statistics come directly from the political party. These statistics are generated by the people who do the actual work of running the country.

   For two of my friends , I think I'm going to have to find out how to unfriend somebody.

    What do you do when you get unwanted face book messages?