Anyone following social media's "Community Standards" knows how selectively they are enforced. Your humble writer was permanently banned from Twitter in 2019 for using a word to describe Sean Hannity's mental slowness that is otherwise used perhaps millions of times per day by others with full impunity. Likewise, calls for violence against Sen. Rand Paul are also made routinely with impunity, in direct violation of the stated "Community Standards."But even the hypocrisy and cynicism we have seen to this point by Big Social Media does not prepare one for a shocking development today, as first reported by Reuters and then picked up by the Washington Post: Facebook (and Facebook-owned Instagram) have "updated" their "Community Standards" guidelines and will now allow calls for violence against Russians.Yes that's right. Russians - not the Russian government or the Russian economy, or even top Russian political figures but just plain old Russians - are now subject to new guidelines that ALLOW rather than forbid "Hate Speech" and even actual calls for violence!
EXCLUSIVE Facebook and Instagram to temporarily allow calls for violence against Russians https://t.co/dhcObdoDk6 pic.twitter.com/QVokunNzyx
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 10, 2022
For those who felt that Japanese internment camps and "colored" drinking fountains were a disgusting chapter, thankfully relegated to the dustbin of history, who were sure that we've moved far beyond such primitive racism and violence, here's a reminder that lurking just below the surface and subject to re-activation by the powers-that-be in the propaganda machine is that same old violent hatred of others. And social media is more than happy to accommodate the wishes of its governmental masters.It is very clear that we are not progressing as a society toward ever-more liberal values. We are regressing to a violent, feral state. Endlessly looking inward for enemies to destroy. "Anti-vaxxers," Trump voters, and now just plain old everyday Russians. Kill them. They are evil. Is this OK?Facebook, a de facto arm of government, is now encouraging calls for violence against innocent people who happen to be of a particular race or ethnic background or linguistic group. Race-hate of an unpopular ethnic and religions group? Haven't we seen this horrific movie before?