We Are The Borg

[rcjordan]

This exact thought has been occurring to me verbatim and repeatedly over the past couple of years. It kicked into gear when I started regularly reading reddit. It was amplified by the development of my massive news reader. And it went red hot when I joined FB.

You will adopt our form of government, our philosophy, our cultural norms, our morals, our sexual practices, our attitudes toward religious faith, our materialist and consumerist lifestyles, our idea of proper relations between the sexes and between parents and children, and even our assessment of the value of human life. You will dress like us, eat like us, work like us, play like us, be educated like us, listen to the music and watch the movies we create, buy the products that we make (or at least, have made for us in Chinese factories), and communicate with each other through channels we control

http://www.socialmatter.net/2016/02/16/we-are-the-borg/

[rcjordan]

<added>
EU & AU are equal partners in this.  AU maybe worse than US of late, but they are few relative to the shear mass of US/UK borg(ettes?)

[bill]

First step in your rehab program is to get off FB... 

[ergophobe]

First step in your rehab program is to get off FB... 

I deactivated my account about two weeks ago. At this point, The Core and WebmasterWorld are pretty much the start and end of my social media... and actually, I don't really use WMW in a very "social" way. So I guess The Core is my social media now.

[rcjordan]

>get off FB

I still have the gutted profile, no friends (boohoo), just four small specialty vehicle groups.  Very benign.  ...And I've just started posting AMZ aff links, so I may not be there much longer, hhh.

[bill]

Good job! I deleted all of their apps from my mobile devices, but need the account still to manage several Pages. Limiting access that way has given me some good distance.

[rcjordan]

Desktop only here. I deleted the fb app the day I bought the phone.

[bill]

I mostly use Google Nexus devices and recent articles claiming that better battery life could be had without FB we enough impetus for me to give it a try. The battery life didn't noticeably improve for me, but I felt a lot better after deleting the apps.

[Brad]

>dress like us ...

It still kinda shocks me when I see street photos from Britain or the Continent: people are wearing the same cheap clothes, from the same cargo containers, that Americans are wearing (and our taste is crap.)  Scary that.

[rcjordan]

Or Thailand with the guy on the scooter with the crates of chickens wearing an "Gore For President" t-shirt.

But I think that was a barb directed at MuslimWear. Turbans, hijabs.

[ergophobe]

Good job! I deleted all of their apps from my mobile devices, but need the account still to manage several Pages. Limiting access that way has given me some good distance.

Oh yeah, I have a "work" Facebook account under Thomas rather than Tom - no friends, no post. It only gives me access to managing the pages and ad accounts I need to manage.

[littleman]

Even ten years ago it seemed the UK dressed markedly better than we do in the States.  I guess it's the hip hop affect on UK culture?

[Rupert]

A steady decline still in the number of people who wear suits in the UK.  Still enough, but reducing.

As for FB, for me it was a menace on the phone.... pinging at me all the time... drove me nuts. Lasted a day. FB is a monthly desktop visit now.

[rcjordan]

Facebook wants to crack down against hate speech on migrants.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/35677435/facebook-wants-to-crack-down-against-hate-speech-on-migrants

Politically-correct, business-led, homogenization marches on.  I'm not arguing about the benefits of hate-speech, but the headline did strike me as a good illustration of our the wholesale assimilation process.

[Mackin USA]

I use FB as a communication tool with business associates in the Affiliate space.
One FB group that is like THE CORE. That is all I can say about that.