I know, right? I am obviously a horrible person, akin to a member of the KKK or Hitler, or maybe our president.
Facebook has a weird, vague policy regarding what they call “community standards.” It seems arbitrary and convoluted, and frankly, skewed towards protecting white people and men. Those guys again. <eye roll emoji>
Now I understand that Facebook is a behemoth, and policing it for hate speech is going to be a tricky and gargantuan task. I also understand that they have to include everyone under the protection umbrella. If saying that Muslims are all terrorists or black people are all thugs is wrong, and it is, it stands to reason that you would have to apply the same logic to white Americans. The problem is, people are on Facebook every day saying Muslims are terrorists, and black people are thugs. I’m sure some of those comments get taken down as well, but I see an awful lot of them with no repercussions whatsoever. Besides, making a broad comment about the intelligence of the American populace is nothing like those things. In this instance, I was talking about the general public’s political IQ.
I also got in trouble this week for using the term “white trash.” Facebook apparently equates this to using the N-word, which is just stupid. You can say redneck, hillbilly, rube, or a lot of other things to describe the same thing, and Facebook has no problem with that. I get that white trash is derogatory, but that’s kind of the point. I was being derogatory. Also, white people are the privileged class in this country, so I’m not sure that it actually possible for them to be a victim of racism and discrimination, no matter how trashy they are.
My comment was about how there is a lot of white trash in my area. Someone was making some horrible, misogynist statements, and I pointed out that he fits in with a lot of the people ijn my area, who are perfect examples of what the term white trash is meant to inspire. Come to Pennslytucky. Take a look around. I think you will agree. I think most of the white trash will actually agree with you!
But you know what? I will give them that one. White trash smacks of elitism, and although I personally don’t have the same feelings about it that Facebook does, I can see where people can make that argument. You win Facebook, I won’t call white trash white trash anymore. If that was the only problem, I can live with it.
I am in some groups that exist to point out bad behavior by white people. It is mostly for fun, but it also serves to illuminate a lot of problems with issues like racism and intolerance. They share posts about people calling the cops when they see black people in a community pool, being in the park, or even entering their own homes. They point out instances where white people say horrible things about other races, and exhibit xenophobia. They point out where white people dress in blackface. They poke fun at white privilege, which is an actual thing, no matter how much white people want you to stop pointing it out. Still, Facebook chooses to censor them for talking badly about white people’s atrocious behavior. They are constantly coming down on them for nothing. Keep in mind, these are all white people complaining about other white people’s bad behavior! No one is calling them names, no one is slandering them or oppressing them or committing hate crimes. Apparently Facebook has a problem whenever you use the word “white” in your description of white people’s behavior. I know friends who have reported pictures of people dressed in black face, using racial slurs and stereotypes, and told by Facebook that those things don’t go against their community standards. How can that be?
It doesn’t just end with white people. You are not allowed to say “men are scum” on Facebook. You can’t say “Men are trash” either. Because men are just so wonderful, and need protection. Meanwhile, I see men call women cunts and whores all the time on Facebook. I see them victim blame, and say horribly misogynists things on a daily basis. I see then claim that women are manipulative and use men all the time. I see incels whining about women having prominent roles in science fiction and comic book movies. Yet if you report them, you are often told that it is perfectly fine, and doesn’t go against community standards.
Men really don’t need protection. Saying that men are scum is a broad statement, and obviously not all men are, but in general, I think a lot of them are scum. Saying men are scum is nowhere close to calling a woman a cunt. It is nothing like misogyny. Again, men have all the advantages in society, so I’m not sure how you can even make a case for them being discriminated against.
Now I realize that not being able to post on Facebook for 24 hours is not the end of the world. I am not whining about that aspect of it. I have enough other stuff to occupy my time in the real world, not that you would know that by looking at the amount of time I spend on Facebook. I do think that there are some important issues at stake here though.
Like I said, it must be very hard for Facebook to figure out a way to really monitor and enforce community standards, whatever that is. And they have every right to decide what goes on their service. That doesn’t mean that it still isn’t absurd and broken. You can share a post criticizing white supremacy, but if the picture accompanying the article has a swastika or Hitler in it, you can get banned. Men have more power in almost every situation, but if you aren’t really careful how you call out abuses to that power, you are silenced. The rules should be in place to protect the people trying to keep the people in power in check. How are you supposed to call out society’s problems if you can’t mention them? As the biggest social media site on the planet, you have to figure that out. You have to do better.
And if you still think that Facebook’s community standards aren’t fucked up, I once received a ban because I shared a picture of a goat. No one was having sex with the goat. The goat didn’t have any big goat balls hanging out. The goat was not a member of the Nazi party or NAMBLA. It was simply a picture of a cute little goat standing in our warehouse where I worked. It belonged to the neighbors, and I captioned the picture with “the neighbor’s goat sometimes gets free and comes to visit.” It seems a system that feels like it should censor a picture of a goat might not be the best thing to be in charge of monitoring society.
