The saying is what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. You don’t hear it much these days. I’ll let wiktionary explain.
There you go. Impress your friends with that one!
My Mistake
Too much time on the news this morning.
I did read an interesting article about why long-haul trucks can last for over 1,000,000 miles when we’re thrilled to get 100,000 from our SUV…but that’s a story for another day.
2 stories stuck in my craw.
American horror story: Early issues for TikTok US
I am not active on social media. I don’t use Facebook or Instagram. I have a Linked In profile, but haven’t logged in for quite a while.
I was ready to skip by this story in Morning Brew.
But as I was scrolling, something caught my eye. I saw references to ICE (boy, there’s a hot button) and Epstein. Both unexpected and worth a closer look.
Shocking?
So users apparently reported that TikTok prevented them from uploading some ICE related videos, wouldn’t let them mention Epstein in direct messages, and perhaps censored some content critical of our President.
This isn’t new. I wrote about it previously.
A while back I wrote Disappointed With The Media Once Again, the highlight of which is:
The post is worth a read, especially since it has a nice throw-back to Boris and Natasha.
And, not to be outdone in the bad behavior department, Google also joined the party trying to influence us by tailoring what we see. Check that out in Say It Ain’t So Google.
So, shocking that the largest media companies are manipulating us by filtering what we can and cannot see in service of their favorite political party. But that’s all in the past, right?
Not So Fast
This TikTok deal just went through.
The US wasn’t comfortable with China owning TikTok and being able to manipulate us. We’d much prefer to have home-grown manipulation.
Larry Ellison who is the lead investor in the new TikTok reportedly has ties to our President. His new venture US TikTok now reportedly (from TikTok users) is censoring content unfriendly to the current administration.
Here we go again. New administration, same playbook. What’s good for the goose…
This is Scary
Censorship is scary.
We make decisions based on information we receive. If someone controls that flow of info, guess what happens???
This next one is equally frightening to me.
Last night before bed, I saw a headline about ICE going to the Olympics. I assumed it was a joke, probably from the Onion which posts stuff like:
In today’s political environment, I find the political stuff less funny, but what can you do?
Anyway, I assumed ICE to the Olympics was more sarcastic humor.
Then I read Reuters.
The Super Bowl Too
This was from October of last year. I must have been sleeping. But I’ve seen more recent articles confirming.
ICE?
I guess we could say that the super bowl has homeland security implications, but not sure how the Olympics in Italy fall under ICE jurisdiction.
I’m a little troubled about ICE seeming to expand their authority.
Wrap Up
2 stories today about the folks we elect using their influence over us.
The TikTok item is clearly wrong.
But unfortunately, it is pretty common. All media outlets seem to declare their allegiance to one party and then suport that narrative regardless of what the data and evidence may tell them.
And the ICE presence at the Super bowl and the Olympics??? Maybe they always are on staff at these events? I need to look into this a bit more. But given some of the recent history with ICE, this one caught my attention and deserves some thought.
Happy Wednesday and for those in New England (and much of the rest of the US), I hope you’re enjoying the new snow.