For the first time in the 16+ year existence of the Intramuralist, Facebook removed our post from their page. The explanation was that the content shared was “misleading.” Said Meta/FB: “The post may contain misleading links or content.” It was said to go against their “community standards on spam.” They state that they “only remove things or restrict people to keep the community respectful and safe.”
Looks like we will start this year with the things that make you go hmmm…
Since November of 2008 we have spoken of many things… sports, politics, Econ, ecology… People have been plenty, too… Caitlin Clark, Colin Kaepernick, Walter Cronkite, all the Bush’s and Obama’s… We’ve dished out both fair criticism and high praise; we’ve been on the understandable receiving end of such, too. We’ve been called too conservative, too liberal, too Christian, too not. The point has always been to prompt dialogue, albeit respectful dialogue at that. We have never advocated for concordant nor tribal thinking. My sense is a reverent give-and-take is an increasingly lost art. Not only is it a lost art, so-to-speak, many also find it pointless and paltry. Hence, if we can encourage gracious, considerate discourse — even and especially among the unlikeminded — we believe that to be a meaningful thing.
To thus call our post “misleading” is fascinating to me. Allow us to recapitulate the content…
The intended post led by pointing out the cognitive decline and potential dementia of the sitting US President and a sitting US congresswoman. Based on reporting by The Wall Street Journal, questions were asked as to why they are still in office, why they are only reporting in detail now, and who has covered up for them. Noting that the two represent separate political parties, also noted was that (1) both parties have been engaged in deception and (2) the media is complicit; they only tell us what they want us to know.
Let me respectfully, therefore, disagree with Facebook: there is nothing misleading about our post. On the same day we attempted to share our post, on Sunday’s “Face the Nation,” chief legal and political correspondent for CBS, Jan Crawford, referred to Pres. Biden’s “obvious cognitive decline” as the most under-covered and underreported news story of the year.
Which leads me to again ask…
What did we say that was untrue?
What automated algorithm did we hit that the media doesn’t want us to say?
Why remove our post?
Why not promote respectful dialogue?
And why be dishonest in suggesting our content is something that it’s not?
Agree or disagree that one party’s behavior is more egregious, that’s a perspective worthy of discussion. Desiring to point out the questionable mental stability of other leaders, also valid. But disallowing the noted cover up of cognitive impairment in the current, in-office elect is not based on any content that’s misleading, especially when such, with absolutely all due respect, includes the highest office in our land. If the Executive Office holder is incapacitated, that is an indubitable, disquieting conversation needed to be had. Who’s been running the country? For how long? How bad is it? And is that what the media wishes we not even discuss?
It seems timely, therefore, to note the prudence found in the words of the ever articulate, albeit oft morally repugnant Tyrion Lannister, the youngest child of Lord Tywin Lannister, in the ever popular, “Game of Thrones.” Says Lannister, “If you tear out a man’s tongue, you’re not proving him a liar; you’re only telling the world you fear what he might say.”
True, Lannister is a fictional character, but it’s amazing how much truth fiction so often provides.
Respectfully..
AR