Is This the World We Created...? (Op. 16)

Every time I go to write something for my blog, I stop because I keep coming back to the same subject.  I know that means I should write about it, but it's been difficult to find the correct words for it.  I'm going to resort to just letting it flow, and being emotional where it happens, because by now you know that I'm an emotional person and I cannot apologise for that.

On Saturday a coordinated series of attacks by Daesh killed over 100 people in France.  This is a tragedy.  Did you know the day before that 40 people were killed in Beirut by suicide bombers?

Did you know Boko Haram has near daily attacks in Nigeria, killing close to 2000 people this year and kidnapping hundreds?

Did you know that there've been dozens of terror attacks in Iraq, resulting in the deaths of hundreds?

How about Gaza?

The Sinai Peninsula?

Turkey?

The Ukraine?

The Philippines?

Pakistan?

Cameroon?

Yemen?

Kenya?

Syria?

Kuwait (outside a Mosque)?

Egypt?

How about the constant flow of black Americans murdered by the police, sometimes seeming like one a day.  In the vast majority of cases, the officers in question will never be brought to justice.

Dylann Roof in Charleston?

The incident in Missouri at the college, with the subsequent terrorism against minorities?

The 500+ (as many as 1000) Indigenous women who have gone missing in Canada?

The First People having the highest rate of being killed by police of any racial group in America?

How many of these have you heard about?

I'm guessing not as many as you'd think.  And I'll admit I didn't know about some of these, and I try to consider myself well read and well informed.  I read up on this last night and...it was a lot of swallow.

I am on Facebook, and I did not change my user pic like many did.  Several people were upset that FB did not offer them a Lebanon option for the suicide bombings, so I made pix for them.  It's a tiny thing, but it felt like I was doing something.  Other people have been doing the same thing, changing their pix to have Kenyan overlays, or medicine wheel overlays, or what have you.  And I think it's awesome...but it's something FB should do.  You can't pick and choose.

But you see, FB has a problem.

FB says this in their Community Standards:

"Hate Speech

Facebook removes hate speech, which includes content that directly attacks people based on their: 

• Race,
• Ethnicity,
• National origin,
• Religious affiliation,
• Sexual orientation,
• Sex, gender, or gender identity, or
• Serious disabilities or diseases.

Organizations and people dedicated to promoting hatred against these protected groups are not allowed a presence on Facebook. As with all of our standards, we rely on our community to report this content to us."

Except they don't.

Oh, they have provisions for things like humour (as if hate speech is humourous).  In the end, countless hundreds if not thousands of pages with hate speech against black, Latino, Middle Eastern, Indian, First nation, Asian, LGBTQIA and other minorities are allowed to stand despite being reported time and time again.  Yet one negative thing is said against someone who is white, and the hammer comes down...for as much as 30 days.

I have more to say about this, and I will be saying it in my vlog tomorrow.

So please, stay tuned.