Hate speech and me

In May 2016, I posted my first criticism of Facebook. Although I have an account, I have done nothing to build it with hundreds of contacts. My 160 friends are mainly those whose requests I have accepted. I have ignored countless others. I have stood face to face with at least 140 of my friends. The few others, I share something in common with them like sport or the environment or I just like them. It is difficult to share political views across the board.

My post of May 2016 criticised Facebook for its funding of the Republican National Convention and said I would leave the site. I gave in to the requests and stayed.

There have been many incidents where I have been prevented from commenting on my own posts. The first time I was actually blocked from posting was my use of a story in the Newsday written by Azard Ali. I tried in every way to determine how my post was considered “spam”, but Facebook never reinstated the post. Events of the last year have led me to believe that it was simply a matter of Zorina Shah speaking to Azard Ali. You can judge for yourselves.

I know that whenever I google something, an ad related to it shows up in facebook. I am aware that Facebook tracks posts closely so they would know that I have said that Mohammad bin Salman is the true leader of the free world and Netanyahu and Trump and those others lining up to take his money are his lackeys. I have said that Muslims around the world are so dependent on the handouts to fund their mosque activities, they will not criticise the Saudi bombing of Yemen with western support.

I have never said anything about how Facebook was used to create the “Arab Spring” (IN SOME COUNTRIES) that has left the Middle East in greater chaos. I am sure the Arab Spring helped to make Hillary Clinton “the most qualified candidate” ever for the US Presidency. That was a good joke Prez Obama made. But I have mentioned how Facebook hate speech contributed to the Rohingya Muslim crisis in Myanmar. I no longer watch American propaganda television for more than two minutes a day so I cannot say if Mark Zuckerberg was asked about that topic in his visit to a congressional committee. I made that decision on watching cable news when I saw that Anderson Cooper (who had cried for Haiti after Trump made cruel derogatory remarks) refuse to even question the Saudi ambassador on the killing of Yemeni children. They are selective on who they cry for, especially if bin Salman was to spread around his money in the US a few days later. I know that they are prepping for war against Iran and they all want that war, none more than the networks. The US likes to gives names to its wars "Desert Storm", "Operation Anaconda". They could call this one "Bigger than Stormy Daniels".

On May 1, two days ago, I posted a few words I had used before: “The lovely month of May”. Within minutes Facebook was inviting my friends to say if my post was hate speech. I couldn’t comment on the post so I took a screenshot and created a new post. My friend Niala Maharaj and I had a lengthy conversation on the new post, though it was hardly related to hate speech. Facebook removed the hate speech question after three hours. This was a Facebook question about me and what I had posted.

Post from 2012

Post from May 1, 2018

Yesterday, May 2, Niala Maharaj shared a tweet from Dr. Jill Stein on Iran. In the post she asked one of her friends if they had anything to say. I tried on three occasions to comment, simply “I have something to say” and was blocked on each occasion. She made a subsequent post after I told her about the censorship and I could not comment on that one either. The post mentioned that I had worked voluntarily with the Catholic Church and I wanted her to remove that. I do not believe that any connection with the Catholic church should give me the right to post freely on Facebook. Her friends who said it was “fake news” were allowed to post.

Jill Stein's original post. The red heart means that I had liked the tweet.

The truth is that Facebook is a dump where I understand that people post horrible things. I do not see those things because I do not have friends who post gruesome videos.

I am forced to conclude, as Niala has done, that I am targeted 1) for my obviously Muslim name and 2) my politics, where I do not support WAR. It is clear that my ideological position is different from that of Facebook and when all is said and done, this is their platform. They own it.