Facebook and Twitter are nothing but troll farms and they’re too greedy to give a shit

Social media has an anti social problem.

For about five years now I and millions of others have been watching the steady decline of social media in horror.

It’s not much of a mystery what the catalyst for this decline has been, it’s pretty obvious; since the day a certain orange skinned tyrant slithered down an escalator to the stolen tune of Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World the destruction of social media began.

Now, obviously internet trolls are nothing new and rejects from 4chan have been the bane of many an internet forum, the trump troll however is a completely new and dangerous creature. Built on the backs of forums such as 8chan and red pill incel subreddits the trump troll has one job and it does it all too well. Make social media a living hell for the rest of us in honour of trump and their tools are racism, homophobia, xenophobia and sexism.

The two biggest breeding grounds for the trump troll are of course no surprise Facebook and Twitter. Not just because they are the biggest social media platforms but because they are also the greediest. Facebook and Twitter have no qualms about turning a blind eye to racist trolls invading pages or flooding hashtags discussing Black Lives Matter or to homophobic trolls attacking the fans of gay celebrities such as George Takei. It makes you wonder if it is just greed that fuels their inaction or if it could be something more nefarious.

We all know that Facebook played far too large a role in getting Trump elected. Home grown trolls from reddit and 8chan aside we are well informed on how Russia manipulated American voters with false pro Trump lies and propaganda with zero resistance from Facebook until they were forced to deal with it or have it dealt with for them.

In an even more sickening turn of events both Facebook and Twitter have not only REFUSED to come to the aid of users being harassed online they side with the very scourge of their platforms by punishing anyone who dares stand up for themselves. If anyone so much as speaks up against the racists, the homophobes, the xenophobes, the sexists and quite recently the over abundance of transphobes thanks to the rantings of one J.K. Rowling, that user can find their account frozen all too quickly while the bigots roam free to attack and dehumanize anyone unfortunate enough to catch their attention.

It makes me believe that Facebook and Twitter know exactly what they’re doing, that over the last five years they have bought into the alt right bullshit that has called their platforms home for far too long. Maybe Facebook and Twitter DON’T think Black Lives Matter, maybe they DON’T think trans rights are human rights, maybe they oppose the Me Too movement, and punishing those of us that still believe that humanity is worth more than revenue is their form of silent protest.

I am by no means a religious person but it does make one ask:

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?

People of Colour and Females in Comics

People are always saying “Well, if they want more people of colour or female characters in comics why don’t they just make them?” and the answer is very simple; money.

A lot of money is invested into new comics and many new comics end up folding within the first few years. Add to that the fact that there are much fewer POC/female characters and that many comic readers may not choose to take a chance on an unknown character/franchise. A great way around this is to introduce new characters in already established series.

In television this is known as a ‘back-door’ pilot. Ever notice how every new CSI, NCIS, Law and Order, Criminal Minds etc. show is always first introduced in the previous series? That’s so that the audience can develop a rapport with the new characters in a setting they are familiar with and decide if the new series is something they feel they can invest their time in.

Adding new characters to an already established franchise gives readers a chance to be exposed to characters they may not have thought of checking out before. We all know that at the end of the day Pete is going to be Spidey again (he is), Thor will once again be worthy and Tony will strap on the armor eventually but while we wait we get to be introduced to these whole new characters with stories and personalities and adventures of their own. When they eventually pass the torch back they will step out of their predecessors shadows and make new names for themselves as their own independent characters, hopefully bringing a whole slew of fans along with them.

Eventually, once POC and female characters become more mainstream there will be no need to have them temporarily step into other heroes’ shoes because there will be enough of a fan base and therefore a market to make them profitable on their own. Which is something worth looking forward to.

 

*I first wrote this as a response to a Nerdist post and decided to repost it here.