Disappearing act

There was a time when I had an RSS feed. I subscribed to ninety or so blogs and websites and I would scroll through to see who had written something interesting today. I couldn't possibly keep up with the flow of information, so I read what I could and learned to let the rest go. It wasn’t information overload, it was an abundance of information and it was great.

Things move fast online. One day Google told me, “We're putting and end to this RSS feed shit. We're not going to tell you why. Piss off.” The internet went from awesome to rubbish in no time.

A long time ago, a TV producer said to me, “Hey, if you're going to do your thing, you should have a Facebook page because that's where people in the business will look for you.” I set up a Facebook page. I didn't know what Facebook would become. It would become the only place. Twitter would become the only place. Instagram would become the only place. And TV producers are of course not interested in what I have to say. Sometimes I'm not either, I'm a bad news bear. 

The days of people reaching out to each other online without massive interference from big business has come to an end. The internet used to be many spaces, now it's a handful. The internet has been ruined. It is broken.

Before social media became truly gigantic, some people sounded the alarm bells but they didn't suspect the extent of the carnage, that the internet population would be corralled into a bunch of social media sites, then there would be no way out, other than opting out of having this extremely bottlenecked communication with other people.

I communicate with people on social media platforms, people communicate with me, we communicate with each other. We stay in touch with each other, we exchange ideas, or try to, in an extremely hostile environment.

People run their businesses online and people fight for justice online, real life communities, real life activists, real people doing real things, but doing it as if they're teenagers that can be singled out by shopping mall security and walked off the premises with no warning, no recourse, no comeback, nothing.

And I won’t say what I really think because it would get me banned from social media. 

In 1965 Indonesia visited genocide on leftists, in South America the method was perfected. It wasn't public executions. People disappeared. It turned out that disappearing people was way more effective than openly murdering them. You never saw these people again. The internet, which could have been used to build a better world, is one great big disappearing act. There was a time on Facebook when you posted a message you wanted people to see and they saw it. All the people on your friends list. Facebook noticed this and decided, “Enough! These people should pay to see each other.” Particularly if you're any kind of leftist or radical involved in any kind of grassroots struggle, every social media platform is entirely hostile to you and your project. They often won't come right out and say you are banned. And it will provide a very stable and forgiving platform to Nazis. If you're one of the worst people alive, social media is good to you.

What technical fixes exist for this dilemma of a virtually privatized Internet, where there is no public space, there are no town squares, but there is nowhere you aren't watched? Unfortunately, people who are not engaged in any kind of struggle for social justice aren’t particularly worried about the oppressive nature of the internet. Those who are concerned and who do feel the oppression are fucking oppressed mate. You are unlikely to hear from them. Their voices are very well hidden. This is capitalism at work. This is bell hooks’ “imperialist-white supremacist-capitalist-patriarchy”. 

Things move fast online. The internet changed from a hopeful, interesting, fraught, but still worthwhile, mass global communication opportunity, to a gated community where the residents have no rights. Capitalism grows like a strangling vine. You turn around one day and the landscape is unrecognizable, so much is hidden or disappeared. The natural response is to not want to believe that it's really happening, because what's believing going to do? Are you going to do something about it? How are you going to change it? The power is out of your hands, it’s not your landscape anymore.

This is the disaster. The greatest communications tool human people ever got our hot little hands on has been co opted by extremely average people, who've made themselves- and this is the part that hurts- have made themselves incredibly powerful by stealing what is rightfully ours. Instead of the online world being a space where we freely communicate with each other and grow ideas to build a better actual world, it is a place where we are sorry for breathing.

I spent a chunk of my Saturday thinking about this shit. I’m a hero.