Social Media Censorship

Today I tried to log into my Twitter account and I received a message that I had been reported. I was told that I wouldn’t have access to my account for twelve hours. In order to begin the countdown I needed to provide Twitter with my phone number.

This is the damning tweet that I made in reference to a story about the Covington High School students. In order to clarify I want to say that I think that those boys exhibited disrespectful and thuggish behavior. I’m appalled at how they acted in our nation’s capital and the way they treated a man three times their age. I still believe that the ring leader of the incident would have been deserving of a punch to the chest.

I would never give Twitter my phone number due to privacy concerns. I tried to give them the land line number at my job but they wouldn’t accept that. There is no way I’m going to give Twitter and the FBI or whomever the opportunity to track my moves through my cell phone. So I guess I’ll never use my account again.

I really enjoyed Twitter. I got a kick out of being a part of mass viewing parties of sporting events and reality TV show broadcasts. A lot of Twitter users are quite clever and I enjoy the way they create their own entertainment.

There are Twitter users that I wouldn’t call friends but I have enjoyed my interactions that I’ve had with them over time. I feel like I’ve gotten to know a few people a bit. At times I’ve thought of deactivating my account in order to avoid some of the stupidity and nastiness but I decided that the good outweighed the bad.

I’ve been banned from Facebook as well. I made a remark that some snowflake didn’t like on a video that was posted. It involved a White man with a gun bullying a minority. I don’t exactly remember what happened in the video. I must have said something about the man needing his a$$ beat or something. I don’t recall.

When I got into trouble with Facebook they locked my account and asked me to send them a picture of a government ID. Nope. There was no way I was doing that. Facebook is clearly in cahoots with law enforcement and I don’t need the FBI thinking I was a part of some sort of pro African American insurgency. Honestly I wish I was but I’m just another insignificant person, opinionated person on social media.

It seems to me that large social media platforms are more likely to censor African Americans than they are Whites. I remember a time when there was a shooting on or near a college campus in northern Florida at a historically Black college. Lives were lost. I was looking at the schools Facebook post about the incident. An anonymous racist account was on the page heckling the incident. I reported the remarks to Facebook and they quickly responded that they wouldn’t do anything about the racist and mean spirited posts.

My remarks were not racist because I was giving my opinion about an individual. Both of the individuals in the social media conversations that I mentioned were being arrogant bullies. I can’t stand arrogance or bullies. I also enjoy seeing people get what they deserve. I don’t think I said anything wrong and I’m not sorry.

Honestly my account is not bad. I avoided using profanity and I didn’t say anything vulgar. I know I may have said things that are objectionable but I didn’t demean anything while saying it. It’s a surprise that my account would get blocked meanwhile there are accounts showing porn, people committing suicide and the aftermath of bloody car accidents that are functioning.

With that being said I can’t think of a time other than the person that was heckling the Black college after a mass shooting that I’ve ever reported an individual. Usually I just block objectionable accounts and move along. It hasn’t occurred to me many times to prevent someone else from broadcasting or viewing what they choose.

But I learned long ago that the world does not really like to hear the opinions of Black women unless you are a clown of some sort. I’ve also noticed that the fastest way for a Black person to gain a social media audience is to market themselves as pro Black and go on to degrade other Black people or glorify Whites. I’m not interested in making that kind of presentation.

Perhaps I’ll be better off without Twitter. I got a kick out of it but it also drove me nuts at times. And being an avid social media user is kind of like being schizophrenic. There are a lot of voices in your head. Well, at least I still have WordPress. For now. And maybe now I’ll have time to get through the stack of books on my nightstand.

Tell Me What You Want: the Problem with Modern Feminism

The problem with modern feminism is that it’s hard to understand what feminists want. Do you want to be protected and have your femininity respected as women, or do you want to be thought of as able to compete with men on any level and in anything? I don’t think you can have both.

I’ve been reading a story of a young woman that aspires to play professional football. She hasn’t set her sights on a woman’s league. She wants to play in the NFL football. And she’s not a kicker.

I’m going to be completely blunt. This is one of the most foolish things I have heard in my life and it’s proof that brainwashing works. The fact is that there are biological differences between men and women. Men are physically stronger than women. I don’t believe there is any way a woman can compete in the NFL with men and not be killed.

Toni Harris is the young woman that wants to play in the NFL. You would imagine that a woman with that goal would be well over six feet tall and more than three hundred pounds. If that was the case I might be in favor of this pursuit if she was allowed to use steroids. (Fair is fair. Miss Spain was a transgendered female in last year’s Miss Universe pageant). But she’s not. She’s petite with a cute face. She’s a girly girl that wants a career where she will get tackled by the likes of Ndamukong Suh.

ndamukong suh

I suggest that Toni Harris research the name Mike Utley. He was a NFL player in the 1990s for the Detroit Lions. He suffered a hit that paralyzed him. He is not in his fifties and is still paralyzed. I’m an NFL football fan and I have watch some pretty rugged guys end up seeing stars after being tackled. I’ve often thought of playing football in the NFL as one of the worst jobs in the world. When you watch some of those tackles in slow motion they are absolutely brutal. I don’t know that I could survive one play in the NFL. Even if I didn’t die I’m sure something would happen to upset me a great deal.

It bothers me that the poster child for a woman in the NFL is a Black woman. Some years back a White woman tried out for the NFL as a kicker and she was awful. She didn’t make the cut and I’m surprised she even got the chance to try out. But Ms. Harris is wanting to play in a tackle position. Can you even imagine a blonde, blue eyed attractive White woman wanting to do this? I don’t think the American public would tolerate the thought of an attractive, young, White woman being tackled by the likes of a six feet something, two hundred pound plus linebacker.

Miss Toni Harris is being used as a sacrificial lamb to the modern feminist movement. I will never watch a game with a woman of small stature playing. I couldn’t bear it. There has always been a boundary around femininity that protects women. It is still there but it is being eroded by feminism and men are the beneficiaries.

In the #metoo era feminists need to decide what they want because I’m a woman and I can’t even figure it out. Is their mantra I am woman hear me roar or are they delicate flowers that want to be protected and made to feel comfortable at all times? They need to decide because I am a woman that is having a hard time sorting this out.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/super-bowl-toyota-ad-features-toni-harris-woman-who-wants-to-be-first-female-nfl-player/

harris

Getting to Know You

The quest for true love is not for the faint of heart. It’s tough out there folks and on line dating is a blessing for many but for others it adds to the confusion and frustration. I am a part of the latter group.

Last week I briefly communicated with a man and he suggested that we meet up for coffee. When I say we briefly communicated I mean that we clicked the feature to “like” each other and exchanged about two lines of text. He said that he was looking for a relationship and asked me if I would be open to talking to him about that. I said sure.

Then he suggested that we meet for coffee. I told him that I would not be interested in meeting him right away. I would like to talk to him on the app first and then have a few conversations on the phone. He says to me that he was no longer interested because he is feels like he can’t get to know a person through an app or on the phone. He wants to see a person face to face in order to get to know them.

I agree with him. I want to get to know a person face to face as well and get to know what makes a person unique. But I’m not going to meet up with a complete stranger upon his request. That sounds like a Backpage.com hookup to me.

This gentleman also said that he was concerned about being catfished. That’s a valid concern but I am concerned about being stabbed multiple times and ending up on a missing persons list or being sold into a sex trafficking ring. It’s a tough world out there for women. Men need to understand that women are the vulnerable party in these types of meetings. The least they can do is be understanding of our safety concerns.

This man wanted me to take the time to get dolled up, drive somewhere that I don’t typically go and compromise my safety so he can look me over as if I’m a used car. That’s very degrading without him knowing anything about me as an individual. And what do I stand to win in this beauty pageant. This man isn’t great looking. He isn’t young. I doubt that he’s wealthy. He’s not even nice or much of a gentleman. No thanks.

The funny thing about this brief interaction is that this man said that he was looking for a traditional woman. I like traditional relationships between men and women and I have no problem with old fashioned gender roles. But a man that states that he is looking for a traditional woman is a bit of a red flag for me. That’s all he talked about in his profile other than his aspirations to own an insurance firm.

I don’t know that I am the type of traditional woman he is looking for but I am a lady. I wanted to try and establish that. What lady is going to meet up with a stranger that she knows absolutely nothing about? This is not only a safety concern but I am trying to avoid wasting the time and energy of both parties.

I often wonder how some people end up in relationships with people where they both have completely different visions for their future. A lot of these problems can be avoided with open and honest conversations at the beginning. Actually I do know how people get into these situations. They aren’t open or honest. The beginning of many romantic relationships take place behind a smokescreen.

For me looks are not the most important factor because there are very few men on dating websites that are attractive. Most of them are Kansas City sevens at best. So looks are not my primary focus because it doesn’t seem to be an option that is available to me. I’m interested in character, common goals and values and what we both want for the future.

I think that all of these things are based on the individual and not based on who they meet in life. That’s particularly true for people that are over thirty five or so. It’s all about finding a good match and you can eliminate people that may not be right for you if you give things a bit of time in the beginning and have the right conversations.

I agree that you can’t completely get to know a person on the phone or through messages on a dating app. But there should be a period of time where people get to know each other from a safe distance and without an investment of money, time or make up. Men are worried about being catfished but women are worried about being murdered or raped. A true gentleman will be considerate of those concerns instead of putting his selfish interests first.