Sometime in 2016 I reinstated my FB account because I thought it would help with my research. However, when I started commenting on the Baby Holm incident and child trafficking in general, I was locked out of my account. Political speech is not free on that forum but since it is a private company, they can post what they want. I also found that I was spending way too much time using it; sometimes up to 5 hours a day. I finally deleted it again and my life returned to normal. I find it to be a creepy organization with poor customer service. I tried to resolve the lock out issue but there was no email nor was there a phone number for me to call. I'm not going to spend hours and hours trying to find them so I recently deleted my accounts. I wrote this article over six years ago and after watching a portion of Zuckerberg's testimony in the Congress, I'm reposting this article because I don't think he's the kind of man to whom I would trust my information. It will be interesting to see how FB does in the coming months as I think there are other options for people to use.
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My reasons are not very specific, but it seems to me that to put so much personal data up on a website like Facebook is really asking for trouble. While Linked In is for professional people, Facebook involves potentially everyone on the planet.
One reason I didn't like it is that it goes through your contacts in your email such as the one I use with Google. So when I completed my Facebook profile, most of my son's friends and contacts came up as potential "friends" on my account. I am guessing that because I had my son's email listed in the contacts, they just went through his list of contacts as well. Obviously, there's no way to control this and it has the potential to cause a person major damage if they become associated with evil people.
Another reason is that most companies that are "liberal" politically are only going to allow their point of view on their website. Joe Farah's World Net Daily recently posted an article that showed how Facebook posted an instruction book on a do-it-yourself abortion. Facebook initially took it down but then re-posted it and actually apologized. However, a pro-life person had his material taken down and to this date, it hasn't been put back up. Facebook censors political speech. And since it is a private company, or it was, it has the option to remove material anyway it wishes.
Now, I have to ask the question: Those of you who call yourselves conservatives, do you really trust a bunch of left-wing socialists, liberals, progressives, and psycho-nazis to respect your privacy or your religious/political views? If you are answering "yes" then I have a bridge I can sell to you. They are going to mine your data, and they will know almost everything about you. And what you don't understand is that if the government ever gets pissed at you for whatever reason, they will be able to make up almost any story about you and make it stick. They need something like Facebook to make that happen.
While I can see why a lot of people like the website; I think that the potential for abuse of privacy is not worth the benefits. In today's world, one can be accused of almost anything. Facebook makes that much easier to do. The feds have an inside joke in saying that they can indict a ham sandwich.
Zuckerberg's voice creeps me out; his company creeps me out. I have a Facebook icon on my smartphone, and I can't get rid of it. Actually, I have a bunch of programs that I don't want. And what about those stupid little buttons and the "like" buttons. What is the purpose of that? I'll tell you what I think. I think Facebook, just like other creepy government agencies, will have a master file on everyone who signs up. And then Facebook will use that information for marketing purposes, which isn't so bad, but it has the potential of intruding upon someone's privacy.
As a result, I deleted my Facebook account and I don't plan on ever using it again. Any type of political use of it will result in a larger forum for communists than for conservatives. I'll just have to find other ways for marketing my book. Facebook will not be one of them.
Walter Allen Thompson is the author of The Grace of Repentance: Keeping God's Commandments
First of all why would anyone in his sane mind have or think of having a Facebook connection?
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