Talk to me long enough and you’ll eventually hear me cite Octavian, Cicero, or something from Ancient Rome. And yes, this is a column about the Facebook whistleblower.

The more I learn about history, the more I discover that all roads really do lead to Rome. Octavian is an important part of Roman history. His great uncle Julius was assassinated when Octavian was 19. Julius willed his name, estate and plenty else to Octavian. Octavian then joined up with Marc Anthony and Marcus Lepidus and formed the Second Triumvirate. After some infighting, a young Octavian became Caesar Augustus. This is very important today because one of the most powerful men, if not the most powerful, in the world likens himself to Caesar Augustus.

I’m talking about Mark Zuckerberg.

We all were taken by Frances Haugen, the Facebook “whistle-blower,” but I hesitate to trust her. For me, something doesn’t add up.

We’re talking about a guy who spends more money lobbying than anybody. We’re talking about a guy who is part of the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda (Big Tech). They have the power to manipulate what we believe and they are very skilled about it. Sure we all want to believe Haugen, after all, none of us like Facebook, but nothing is going to happen.

Even if it does, it’s not going to be in our best interest.

Think about this. You have a choice, you can leave Facebook. It’s free, it doesn’t cost you anything, in fact, you’re rewarded with your sanity back. For several years now, I’ve been arguing that we need to get off Facebook. If you need social media, there’s several alternatives. The Hayride has The Speakeasy, there is Mewe, Telegram, Parler, Duck Duck Go, Rumble. You have the power to fight back against the the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda.

Instead of leaving, or even so much as spending less time on their platforms, we often choose to fight back by getting on these platforms and launching man-made methane missiles from our chair. If you think you’re being effective arguing on Facebook, you’re not. You think you’re punishing somebody you disagree with, but the person who is suffering the most is you. Maybe the person who walked into the same room as you are as you launched the latest round of rockets is suffering as well.

Here’s some simple rules for arguing on Facebook.

• Argue for the reader, not to convince your opponent.
• Retorts should seldom be longer than a paragraph
• No more than four retorts in a thread
• You don’t have to have the last word
• Keep insults subtle, it should be just enough to throw your opponent off, but quiet enough to keep yourself from looking like a jackass.
• After you’ve made six retorts, nobody will notice that you left.

The only thing we’re accomplishing by spending so much time on their platforms is helping Zuckerberg achieve his dream of becoming Princeps Senatus and enriching him. Each time you click on Facebook, that platform makes more money. Spending more time on other platforms helps them make more money and allows them to become more competitive.

Facebook has the power now to control governments. They have the power to move people in any direction they want. You want to post something Facebook doesn’t agree with? They can inundate you with “fact checkers” and call you a liar, or they can ignore a lie and make it believable. They can maximize how many people can see your posts, or prevent anybody from seeing it on your feed. They have the power to dictate what goes viral. Refresh your newsfeed and it’s the same posts that you just saw. We’ve become extremely limited on what we’re allowed to see.

Facebook has the power to convince people to follow the flat earth movement, or to bury a damning story such as Hunter Biden’s laptop. They could divide houses, making sure one believes in something, while the other believes the opposite. Many of these platforms take pride in knowing more about you than you do. They tell you what you want to see, and hide from you what you don’t want to see. The reality is, they put the crap in front of you that they want you to see while hiding from you what you need to see.

We’ve become zombies, our bodies are moving, but our brain is no longer working. We’re puppets with our puppet masters pulling our strings, leading us into temptation as our desire for the fruits weaken. Think about the COVID pandemic and how many people are still spending so much time at home. Go to the food court and watch people eating as they browse Facebook on their phones.

It’s easy to reject this. Spending less time means they make less money and less money means they don’t have as many employees, which means they have less influence. Amazon, Google, Facebook, YouTube, and Netflix have this ability because we readily hand that power over to them.

But there are some – Haugen is especially one – who want the government to get involved, to take over Facebook. Imagine, the government getting in on the act. Do you really believe that government would be so kind with all that power in their hands? With knowing more about you than you do? With the ability to limit what you see and put in front of you what they want you to see? To make you believe only what they want you to believe?

I know, some of you will say, “but something must be done.” As you hone your insulting skills and build up your artillery of endogenous rockets by eating pickled eggs and pork rinds to fight back, while you wait for somebody else to do something. Or, you could leave, which you won’t. You’ll tell yourself how you can reach millions of people on Facebook, while Facebook makes sure only a handful of people see your posts.

As a side note- Personally I have already began leaving Facebook and have been slowly removing friends from my list. You may have noticed that I am no longer friends with you on Facebook, if this is the case, do not take it personally. I’ll eventually get to the rest of my friends list as I move off of Facebook and onto MeWe. And feel free to find me on The Speakeasy as well.