July 8, 2020

I don’t know the name of the person who first coined that maxim, “if you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.”

Now, in the past, I never considered myself a person who didn’t stand up for the things in which she believed. I know that in the nearly thirteen years I’ve been penning these essays of mine, I’ve not left too much about myself hidden. My life, as the recent popular saying goes, is an open book.

I’ve never lied in my words to you, nor have I put on airs in these essays. I’ve let you see me, warts and all, because really, that was the whole purpose of these words to begin with. To connect with others, and the best way to do that is to let others know, they’re not alone.

I don’t make a habit of pushing my beliefs on others, either. But I am not ashamed to tell you the things in which I believe. I’ve never thumped a Bible in my life; but y’all know I’m a Christian.

I have admired American politicians from both parties. I don’t look at the ideology so much as the person. In fact I have a feeling that if you sifted all the things which I’ve told you are the things in which I believe, you might in the end come to the conclusion that, if I were an American, I’d be a libertarian.

But I am a Canadian and have routinely based my vote here in my country on the person—their values and behavior and stated beliefs—and not the political party [here in Canada we have 3 major ones and a couple more, besides].

I’ve often gone into little segues wherein I confess that I don’t understand blind hate. I don’t. Hate is evil, in my estimation, and should be against the law. Hate brings with it nothing good. Nothing. Hating a person for a reason that has nothing to do with their beliefs or actions is especially onerous and incomprehensible to me. It doesn’t, in my mind, say anything negative about its target, only about its source. It does not smear its target, only the person from whom it spews.

A couple of essays ago, I told you about my attempts to understand racism. I’m still working on that. I’m reading “Begin Again” by Eddie Glaude, Jr. because one way to understand the entire situation is to read what black people think and feel. I’ll be looking for other books as I go along in this journey and I welcome any suggestions you may have for me.

But one thing I do not have to work on is how I feel about hate.

I use Face Book. In fact, I am grateful to that medium. As a published author, I have used Face Book to promote my books and stay in touch with my readers. I consider it my primary promotional tool, now that the Yahoo Groups are no more, and it has many good uses. There is a lot of good accomplished through Face Book by a lot of people of good will.

However, as y’all are by now aware, it has what I consider a major flaw. People can use the medium to promote hate. They can pay copious amounts of dollars and tell lies and spew hate, and their lies and hate, because they have paid those dollars, have wide dissemination on Face Book.

Those in charge at Face Book have long claimed that they believe in free speech, and so do not care what those who pay all those millions of dollars have to say.

I would beg to differ, Face Book. It’s not free speech at all. It’s very profitable to you, and extremely costly to the rest of Humankind.

There must be some responsibility, don’t you think? If we, as a society, hold our television stations, newspapers, and radio stations to a standard of truth, shouldn’t the online media also be held to account? For many people, Face Book has taken the place of all of the above-mentioned media platforms. It’s their primary source of “news”. It’s past time for FB to grow up and join the rest of the media platforms—television and radio stations—at the big kids table.

So, if I believed this with all my heart, shouldn’t I do something about it? This was the challenge I found myself facing at the beginning of this month of July. And so, I decided, that for July, I would refrain from using Face Book.

I don’t kid myself that my tiny voice will make a difference to Mark Zuckerberg with his billions of dollars– at least it won’t, not on is own. Hopefully enough others will join this “protest” and change will happen. But, regardless, it will make a difference to me.

This stand I’ve chosen to take comes with some risk. I’m denying myself easy contact with my readers, and at least one really good promotional opportunity that I had booked for the 21st. But sometimes doing the right thing should come at a personal cost. That makes it serious, and real.

Here is what I posted on FaceBook to announce my action:

I don't come by this decision lightly, but when I think of all the Wednesday's Words I've posted, all the times I've urged people to stand up and do the right thing...well, this is something I believe that I have to do. For the month of July, I will not post on FB. I will not even sign in to it. I'm only one person, but hopefully, I will be one of many; FB needs to better manage its platform. They need to be governed by the same rules as other marketing companies; they need to stop allowing people - or bots - to post hate and lies just to make a few dollars. This is not about anything but me, taking a stand, one little old lady who wants very much to do the right thing. I'll see you August 1, or after FB announces some major changes, whichever comes first. #StopHateForProfit

So that’s what’s new in my world, at the moment. And I told my readers, that anyone who wants to get in touch with me can send me an email at morganashbury@aol.com. Any of you can, too.

Love,
Morgan
http://www.morganashbury.com
http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury