An Open Letter to Mark Zuckerberg, CEO FACEBOOK

An Open Letter to Mark Zuckerberg, CEO FACEBOOK

Dear Mr. Zuckerberg,

As you know, Facebook suspended our account earlier this year claiming that we are not a "real person".

Please let us assure you that we are, in fact, "REAL".

Funny, but we've been using this ID for about 9+ years and never with a problem (aside from that débâcle regarding the Willie Nelson for Nobel Peace Prize for Farm Aid campaign.)

The timing on this suspension was oddly suspicious. Of course, some would say just merely coincidental. We have doubts.

The suspension came shortly after the release of Neil Young + Promise Of The Real's controversial anti-GMO album The Monsanto Years and on the eve of the 1st Leg of the Rebel Content Tour in July. We say synchronicity. Or maybe Mon$anto's good ol' public relations machine put your folks up to it?

Regardless, this disruption of the free flow of Neil Young news has consequences. Your organization imposed a sudden, inexplicable hardship on the rustie community by depriving them of real time critical, tour updates. And it's not nice to fool with all of the good people of Rustdale.

Because all of our inquiries over this suspension have only been responded to with automated robo-algorithm replies, we had no other choice but to pay a visit to your neck of the woods while we were enjoying the 29th Annual Bridge School Benefit Concerts. When we spoke to your representative(s) over the weekend, we made it very clear what we were seeking and what would be acceptable and unacceptable. Very simple and straightforward.

We were very pleased to see last week that Facebook has relented to a degree with the news: Facebook changes 'Real Name' policy rules after public outcry:

Facebook announced Friday that it is modifying the terms of its oft-criticised "real name" policy which demands users go by their "authentic name" when on the social network rather than a pseudonym. The trans and Native American communities have repeatedly protested the policy, citing its use by trolls as a weapon of harassment. Today's announcement comes in response to an open letter penned by advocacy groups including the EFF and ACLU.

Again, we are all pleased by these initial steps. But either we were misunderstood or you have been misinformed by your staff.

When we went to login into our Facebook account upon returning home, we were requested to provide documentation of who we are such as a Government ID like a driver's license or passport.

Facebook - Submitting an ID

Are you serious? Are you kidding us? Is this a joke?

Who in their right mind would provide that type of private, personal information to a corporation like Facebook? As you are well aware, Facebook seems as if it was designed as a glorified identity theft harvesting machine. And if that's not bad enough, hosting fake profiles for scripted and staged mass gun shooting scenes is pretty disgusting.

Oh yeah, that's right, you think we're all just “dumb f*cks”, as you once so famously typed.

Fight for the Future notes:

Mark Zuckerberg once called Facebook users “dumb f*cks” for trusting him with their data. Now he’s trying to take advantage of us. If CISA passes, all your photos, posts, relationships, and likes will have a path to government databases.

Recall:

You see Mr. Z, we're not all “dumb f*cks” around here.

We do NOT trust you. You guys may be trying to take us down by canceling our advertising partnerships, or blocking our ability to run Google Ads, or hacking our Twitter account, or filing fraudulent transactions on our PayPal account, or disrupting the ISP service of our partner WBKM.org and Thrasher's Wheat Radio, or screwing around with our Amazon partner links, or jerking us around about Willie for a Nobel, suspending the Gigs for the Gulf page based on false copyright infringement claims, trying to make exposing environmental crimes a crime, disrupting freedom of speech and assembly, or humiliating and mocking our efforts when we try and stand up, or sending in all sorts of trolls and spammers to disrupt the Neil community, or making exposing a war crime a war crime or blasting us with near Stuxnet-like levels of crippling attacks on our servers, and on & on...

Yeah, yeah, it's all just one big giant conspiracy right, Thrasher? Well, maybe so. But, is that the best you can do?

You see Mark, you can't have it both ways because TANSTAAFL.

Well, we're still here after nearly 20 years of separating the wheat from the chaff. Guess we must be doing something right to attract this sort of animosity and hostility. But you know, as someone once sang, "the same thing that makes you live, can kill you in the end" ... Afterall, isn't that why God made us?

The Truman Show Ending Scene - The Creator

So what's so funny about Peace, Love, & Understanding & Music anyway?

And, please, don't wear your hoodie or bring your friends, we know who they are (see end of clip @ ~2:00 for removal of the hoodie for THE Greatest Moment in Internet History). Not to worry, though. If the sky is fire, then hell is blue, we'll cover you, but it is unlikely we will ever work in this town again. So if you have any suggestions on what we should be doing with our free time aside from bloggin', we're all ears, so to speak, wink. Transparency is a coming with a forecast of greater visibility and sunshine. In the meantime, we plan to continue to keep on bloggin' until the power goes out and our battery's dead.

While Facebook may be able to kill our profile, it will NEVER be able to suppress the spirit of Thrashers Wheat. This aggression will not stand, sir. Just like rock & roll, we will never die. Or perhaps Facebook's A.I. algorithms have finally gone totally rogue?

And speaking of privacy, what's up with all those creepy ads ? Kind of ’Minority Report’-ish, eh?

Like Charlie said:

"Soldiers! don’t give yourselves to brutes - men who despise you - enslave you - who regiment your lives - tell you what to do - what to think and what to feel! Who drill you - diet you - treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don’t hate! Only the unloved hate - the unloved and the unnatural!

Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!"

And by the way, we'll be back out your way again next year for the 30th Annual Bridge School Benefit Concerts in October 2016. Maybe you can attend, make a donation and we can work this out if still an issue. It's a really great concert for a great cause.

Lastly, when your rep asked us why we do what we do, like we told them, we do this for a lot of reasons... love of the music, obviously for one. We do it because it's just the right thing to do for another. We do it for the farmers and Willie and The Boys, of course. You know, make a difference and save the world kind of stuff.

Just as it is not nice to fool with Mother Nature, Thrasher's Wheat can be a harsh mistress. (We're not hiding behind haybales and it's not like we're throwin' rocks at the moon or anything serious. c'mon now. And it's not because of some duality of a Southern Thing thing, either. Or some big shift disclosure.

Just like there really is no dark side of the moon alas -- there are no secrets in life either. There is no secret. There is no mystery. It's all out there to see for those who are aware, conscious and awake and anyone who does not have eyes wide shut.

But really, the bottom line -- The Big Secret -- is that it's all about The Bridge Kids. Seriously.

Mountain View, California - October 24, 2015
Photo by Hounds That Howell - TWR Tour Manager

(BTW, you do know the Secret to a Happy Ending, right?)

So we're not quite ready to make nice just yet. Because to talk without thinking is to shoot without aiming. Someday. Sooner or later, it all gets REAL. So, walk on.

Thanks to all for their support, because we love all of our readers and supporters. Rusties are -- without a doubt -- the best souls on the planet (be sure to listen to clip for full verification of this statement). And in case we don't see ya again, good afternoon, good evening, and good night! No fear. Believe. Onward.

namaste,
thrasher & thrashette
ps - ... and you do know who Truman is, right mate? And who reads open letters anyways? Besides, we're sure that Facebok can handle a bit of criticism. Let's Get Out Of Here!!! and Go HOME. “This too shall pass.”

UPDATED: 11-11-2015

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