The Facebook Era
It is sort of a strange thing when you realize how much of your public identity has to do with what you post to Facebook. For good or bad (and there is plenty of both), lots of friends and acquaintances have created an understanding of me based on words and pictures posted to a computer screen. Depending on the individual's perspective, those words contribute to both positive and negative impressions of the person behind the keyboard. Now that I've decided to leave Facebook, I wanted to reflect on how we all got to this place, where we communicate from behind a screen, and form impressions of people based on moments on a timeline and carefully constructed computer algorithms.
I didn't join Facebook with the intention of posting political or social commentary. Like most others, I reluctantly handed over my personal information to Team Zuckerberg long after Facebook had replaced MySpace as the go-to site for social networking. I can even remember the final straw that convinced me to setup my account. I got an email from someone who was very excited about another friend's new baby. After wondering how I could possibly be so out of the loop for this important life event, I was informed that it was all clearly posted to Facebook. Not wanting to be excluded from future announcements, I took the plunge in August 2009.
Finding My Voice
Growing up is an interesting and complicated process. We all get to learn about who we are, where we came from, and how to interact with others as we advance through the various milestones of youth. At some point, usually during or shortly following the completion of formal schooling, there is a period of uncertainty. Now that we are in control of our lives and decisions, how do we really understand ourselves and the place we are to play in the world?
For me, the transition from college to "the real world" was pretty smooth. I graduated, secured a big boy job, and spent the summer hanging with friends, traveling Europe, and preparing for what was next. After starting my job and completing training, I moved into my own place, learned about paying bills and getting to work on time, and started settling into my new life. When not working, I divided my time fairly evenly among Timberwolves games, Thursdays at William's Pub, and weekends at Gluek's, Rosen's and The Lone Tree in downtown Minneapolis.
At that point in my life, I wasn't particularly informed or interested in "politics", even as the 2000 election cycle was already rounding into full swing. I grew up with parents who identified as centrist Democrats. To me, that meant that they were neither reformed "hippies" preaching peace and love, nor were they among the "Reagan Democrats," who made a party switch to become Republicans in the early 1980's. My first major vote in a Presidential election was for Bill Clinton in 1996 and in 1998 I joined with others in my generation to make Jesse Ventura the 38th Governor of Minnesota. In those days, my general understanding of politics was that both parties were pretty much the same, and that most politicians were interested in maintaining the status quo. Fresh out into the working world, armed with my shiny new college degree, I felt the need to "shake things up a bit," by electing an unpolished, though generally qualified, former wrestler and actor, to lead our great state.
Things started to change for me after the 2000 election. Al Gore had lost to George W. Bush, despite winning the National popular vote, in one of the closest elections in U.S. history. The election only concluded after the US Supreme Court ended a mandatory statewide recount in Florida, in an election fraught with irregularities and accusations of fraud. In the end, Bush won the state of Florida by less than 600 votes, giving him a slim electoral college victory, despite receiving over a half a million fewer votes. Bush, the son of the former VP and President, was relatively inexperienced in politics, despite having served as the Governor of Texas. He got to work quickly, implementing economic and foreign policy changes driven by a cabinet of his father's close advisors. A short time later, our country would experience the tragedy of 9/11, the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the intelligence changes that would forever impact our understanding of privacy.
For me, these events woke something in me; an awareness that elections have consequences that extend beyond the boundaries of my social group, community, city and state. It was at this point when I decided to educate myself about the politics that influence our lives, regardless of whether or not we choose to pay attention. The impetus for this phase in my development was not any particular hot button issue, but rather a search for "Truth" in politics. I was less concerned about liberal vs. conservative economic and social policies, and more interested in understanding how to avoid the corrupting effects of disinformation and ignorance in our society. At that time, this disinformation consisted mostly of chain emails that got passed from person to person spreading false information and conspiracy theories. I spent a good portion of my time replying to my (mostly older) family and friends explaining why 9/11 wasn't an inside job, or that people weren't leaving used hypodermic needles infected with HIV in the coin slots of vending machines. I discovered new websites such as factcheck.org and politifact.com and used them to help people separate fact from fiction. After Bush won a second term in 2004, it became clear to me that our politics, and our country, were changing.
A Political Awakening
In early 2007, I became aware of Barack Obama, then a first term U.S. Senator from Illinois. I was drawn to him mainly due to his message of "Hope and Change," now easily accessible to me due to videos of campaign speeches posted to YouTube. After that initial introduction, I took the time to read his books - first "The Audacity of Hope" and then "Dreams From My Father," which had been written years before his improbable rise to prominence. For the first time in my young life, I felt that this was a politician who actually understood me, and who shared the dreams that I had for my country. For the first time in my life, I felt the need to "campaign" for a political candidate. Still years before Facebook or Twitter for me, my campaigning mostly consisted of sending mass emails to friends, and the occasional conversation over dinner or drinks. Most people seemed to appreciate the information and resource recommendations, though there were a few others who expressed their desire to do their own research. Whether or not my outreach had much impact on my social circle, this initial foray into politics convinced me that I had something to say.
As personal email gave way to text messages, and political messaging increasingly took the form of viral videos, blogs and memes, the landscape changed quickly. I could no longer knock down a disinformation attempt by posting a link to PolitiFact or Snopes. Conspiracy theories took on a mind of their own, driven by democratized access to information, expanding social media platforms, and sophisticated microtargeting and profiling technologies. Eventually, we were introduced to the concept of "fake news", which were articles made to look legitimate, despite being completely devoid of factual information or journalistic integrity. With the election of Donald Trump in 2016, these technologies and strategies were weaponized by Russia and others to further divide an already divided nation. With the help of Trump and others, the line between "fake news" and political bias was intentionally blurred, and most Americans found themselves without a trusted news source. This created a vacuum of information and truth for most Americans, and many organizations were happy to step in and fill the void.
Today, we live in a world where basic facts and science are questioned. Those traditionally viewed as experts, such as doctors, professors and scientists, have their opinions questioned by anyone with access to Google. We are stuck with legitimate media organizations who worry more about giving equal credence to both sides of an argument rather than focusing on which argument is actually supported by facts. Worse than that, we have been inundated by illegitimate media organizations that present politically charged opinions as if they are established facts. We are left in a space with very few trusted sources of information, and a population that picks and chooses what information to believe. In most cases, we choose to believe information that supports the views that we already have, also known as "confirmation bias." Facebook and other social media giants, which could have been platforms to disseminate factual information, have instead become the preferred tool to spread disinformation, on a scale unimaginable just a decade ago.
I guess that is what has brought us to where we are today. Despite efforts to combat the spread of disinformation on platforms like Facebook, the problem continues to get worse. The companies, who by their own admission, could employ resources to censor false information, argue that they have no role to play in deciding what content is displayed on their platforms. Those of us who attempt to spread factual information on these same platforms find ourselves overmatched by the capabilities of those who aim to deceive. I find myself arguing basic facts with friends instead of engaging in real political and moral conversations that are the bedrock of our Democracy. My goal is to start having those American conversations again. I want to engage in conversations that are grounded in facts and science. I want people to see that our history is defined by a long series of factual events that must be understood from potentially unfamiliar (and uncomfortable) perspectives. Over the next several weeks, I plan to start these conversations, and hopefully improve upon the toxic discourse that has taken over our politics and strained our relationships with those we care about. I invite all of you to take this journey with me, though I'm not quite sure where it will lead.
Will it lead us to a better world devoid of toxicity and lies? Probably not. My modest hope is that it will at least make my life, and possibly yours, a tiny bit more tolerable.
Thanks for reading!
