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Face Book Oversight Board Kicks Can Down the Road

Hurray, America trump-free for Six More Months on FB!

Hurray! The Face Book Oversight Board gives us a six month reprieve from the loud, obnoxious, lying crap from former high office holder, trump. Facebook’s Oversight Board said FB should uphold the ban on former President Donald Trump’s account for now.

The Face Book Oversight Board has kicked the can down the road and told Face Book to make their own decision based on definable rules that they must write.

The Board said in its decision Wednesday that it was “not appropriate for Facebook to impose the indeterminate and standard-less penalty of indefinite suspension,” asking the site (FB) to review that part of the decision within the next six months.

In response to the continuation of the imposed FB ban, the former dear leader wrote…

“What Facebook, Twitter, and Google have done is a total disgrace and an embarrassment to our country.”

“A total disgrace, an embarrassment to our country”? Gee, that reminds me of something - oh yeah…I know, that’s exactly what trump has done for the past 5 years…been a total disgrace and embarrassment to the United States.

Continuing in his response (obviously written by someone who could string 2 or 3 sentences together)…

“Free Speech has been taken away from the President of the United States because the Radical Left Lunatics are afraid of the truth, but the truth will come out anyway, bigger and stronger than ever before,” Trump said in his statement, which ended with: “These corrupt social media companies must pay a political price, and must never again be allowed to destroy and decimate* our Electoral Process.”

Holy crap! Has trump started drinking? Or has the FL sun so affected him while on the course, so as to cause a brain malfunction resulting in a complete loss of memory of events of the last 5 years?

Yeah, I’m just kidding, he’s always been like this and has prospered from his totally senseless fables and lies.

Gigantic tomes could (and will) be researched and written about Face Book, the Oversight Board and trump’s relationship with FB.

I’m going to begin with the Oversight Board (OB).

I became curious as to who sits on the OB. A Google search turned up the information easily.

The Oversight Board currently has 20 members; 15 of whom are non US citizen; six are Human Rights advocates; there are three Journalists and ten Lawyers; nine are Women.                                                                                                                                                   

Who am I to say what the composition of the FB Oversight board should be? However, it’s my understanding that even though some international issues have arisen and by the way, if you haven’t noticed, FB is an international company, the overriding, most important critical question of the day for FB is - what is Mark Zuckerberg going to do about Donald trump and his disgustingly corrupt and lying statements? About EVERYTHING!? And, should he be permitted to voice those totally false, never ending lies on FB whenever and however his reptilian brain and little fingers have the urge?

Granted, who the president of the US is an international issue, but the trump question mostly resides in the US and in the information the US citizens and by extension, the voters, will be fed.

Information is a tricky thing these days especially with so many citizens having access to all sorts of social media and various platforms enabling them to espouse their various points of view and agendas.

So, with so much stuff in the ether, “who you goin’ to trust”?

You’re going to trust the President or, at a minimum, you should be able to trust the president. That’s pretty much the way it’s been in America. But our last president is uniquely untrustworthy, to say the least.

One would think, looking objectively, that men and women elected to high – or even low offices should be # 1 on the ‘you can trust’ list. And, the corollary is that those in office should be allowed to use the highest and most public means of disseminating the information that the public needs to know to be informed and make educated decisions based upon true, timely information.

But what happens when the president and others knowingly post false information to assist in their desire for power and riches? Simply put, should FB and other platforms allow lies and corrupt information to be published over their platforms without any oversight simply because the person is a high office holder?

The answer is clear; of course not. Not if we want to continue living in a country based upon facts, evidence, truth, honor and a democratic process.

I became curious as to the current composition of the OB. I was astonished to learn that currently, 75% of OB membership is made up of Non-US citizens.

So, and this is my foundational statement. The Oversight Board, when they investigate and rule on a strictly American issue, should be composed principally of Americans.

Maybe FB needs two Oversight Boards? One for issues in the US and another for foreign country free speech issues.

And how about that word, American? Americans are a diverse people, we’re not 50% lawyers or one third human rights advocates.  Lawyers are not the only patriotic Americans and are not the only smart, courageous people in the country interested in freedom of speech.

The Oversight Board is currently composed of twenty (20) members:

15  Non-US  citizens from:  Ghana, Yemen, India, Kenya, Australia, Denmark, Columbia, Brazil, Cameroon, UK, Pakistan, Hungary, Indonesia, Taiwan and Israel. They are paid $240,000 US/year.  6 human rights advocates, 10 Lawyers, 3 Journalists,  9 Women.                                                                                                                                                                                                                 I think we can assume that all of these people on the FB OB are intelligent, well-educated, earnest, honest people but they bring a certain point of view and life experience with them onto the Board and as I stated before, three fourths are not US citizens! An astounding percentage considering that recently, they made a momentous decision which will affect the future of American politics and every US citizen.

The other thing as far as I’m concerned is how about adding an American political historian, a person steeped in contemporary politics and American civil rights, a Latino-American labor union leader, an Asian-American scientist or others to get diverse opinions?

Get rid of a few lawyers

In this overriding question about trump resuming his perch as a former president, liar and provocateur, FB should not rely upon Board members who are not intimately acquainted with the US to make such far-reaching decisions affecting you and me.

In making historic, significant decisions, the OB needs people who not only live in the US, but follow the news daily and talk, discuss and learn from their fellow Americans each day of their lives

Zeny.

*Decimation was a form of Roman military discipline in which every tenth man in a group was executed by members of his cohort.