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.
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:
Recall: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.
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!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.
Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!"
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.
(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
I know you stated that my comments are usually negative so here is another one. I loathe Facebook I much prefer Twitter. Facebook somehow wants too much info from us which I was always suspicious about . I dropped Facebook three years ago because my life was too much out there. MZ is way to powerful especially for the nerd that he is. And power puts you in bed with other way to powerful people and corporations. So I'm glad you are facing the dog that is Facebook. Thanks Thrasher(we all know you're a real person) for the fire.
ReplyDeletedunno thrasher,
ReplyDeleteI never did 'get' the whole Facebook thing.
maybe being a natural born Scorpio,I am naturally secretive, but I don't get it, or want it..and somehow, I survive!
If I want to go see or do something, it's not hard to get info on it. :-)
Not sure why you'd bother to fight so hard for it.
Just ignore it.
Hopefully it will go away.
cheers
Winter.
@Tim - thanks for the support. Good to hear you kicked the FB habit. So many are addicted, but where there is will, there is hope. Not fake hope, but real hope -- true hope.
ReplyDelete@Winter - As a Virgo, we can relate to where The Scorpio's are coming from.
We'll survive. And thrive in our brave new post-FB world as that Big Shift approaches.
See you on the other side way back home.
ps - No, this is not about REVOLUTION BLUES. Never was, never will be. It's a rusty thing. THEY wouldn't understand.
p&l
Im a lifelong fan , and I do mean lifelong . since around 1968 . what i am not is a zealot . i think you put way way too much importance on Neil Young in this GMO thing . honestly ... he isnt a flea on a rhinos butt to Monsanto , and ive never heard a word about his "influence" on the issue outside of this page . i have a lot of friends who are artists , some use their "artist" name on Facebook , and have had that name disallowed after years of use . you may have heard of Wreckless Eric - you may have not - he has been recording under that name since 1977 and was informed by Facebook that name is no longer acceptable . im pretty sure the timing is the same as it has been for countless others . its just that Facebook is implementing that rule at the moment .
ReplyDeleteand no ... Neil didnt stop Keystone either ;)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGenghis here, account mix up. How scary it is that corporations can attempt to destroy freedom of speech. On another note, winterlong, I agree with you completely. Nearly everyone I know uses Twitter (though I am in highschool), and I am just appalled by the amount of overexposure and debauchery on display. I guess social media just isn't for me.
ReplyDeleteThis is straight up THE most fucked up thing I have read about since the last most recent unjustifiable murder committed by cops.
ReplyDeleteIn other news, just last night, on my fb, I posted about the wrongfulness of Israel committing genocide on Palestine, with $3 billion every day from the US, much as The Nazis did on Eastern European jews. I was NOT out of line, no foul language, only a strident plea on the lines of "why can we not just get along?"...
Guess what? The post I made and all my comments magically disappeared. Thanks Zuckerberg and your censorship stormtroopers.
Connect the dots if you will...
@Unknown - That's cool whether a lifer or a newbie.
ReplyDeleteActually, we think Monsanto is terrified of the whole movement and their success. So much so, that Monsanto is actually considering a corporate name change and leaving its U.S. headquarters to reincorporate in Europe.
http://neilyoungnews.thrasherswheat.org/2015/06/the-monsanto-years-corporate-targets.html
That seems a bit more than a flea on a rhinos butt. Even so, if this is all it takes to run Monsanto out of the country, imagine if we all rose up. We could drive them off of the planet EARTH.
The influence outside of this page is more than you might imagine, as well. Witness our coverage of the CIA's KXL Rally:
Neil Young Rejects & Protects: KXL Rally - Washington, DC - April 26, 2014
http://neilyoungnews.thrasherswheat.org/2014/04/neil-young-rejects-protects.html
A beautiful day if there ever was one.
Neil Young to President Obama: "This is your defining moment in the history of the world. Make your statement. And make a statement that’s good for all time. It’s a change. The change is coming. Why not give it a push? Why not stand up and put America on the right side of history?"
And lo & behold... magic! WaPo today, front page:
Obama quashes Keystone XL in bid to boost climate leverage
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/obama-quashes-keystone-xl-in-bid-to-boost-climate-leverage/2015/11/06/6ef42912-8509-11e5-8bd2-680fff868306_story.html
Catch that? Quashes. Not just delays or stops but "quashes".
How's that for the power of Neil? His fans are fearless and that's what scares Corporations in the fossil fuel and GMO industries. Truth To Power, baby.
Or maybe just synchronicity ?
Yes, we've heard of Wreckless Eric as well. bummer. Another one bites the dust. How many more, how many more? What will it take to wake folks up?
The CLAMPDOWN is on now. Glad you're awake and with us.
@Genghis - Great to hear from you. So cool that while still in high school that you've broken the FB habit and gone over to Twitter. Do not despair social media or all of the other socialisms out there. Old Ways, our friend.
Likewise, we've been using Twitter quite a bit since the FB clampdown purge began this summer. Many are dumping FB for other apps. Catch us if you can.
Before too long, only those craving desperate narcissistic attention fame whores will remain with FB & Mr Z.
@Eric - Bummer.
ReplyDeleteNot to repeat ourselves, but the purge is going down. The calm before the storm.
Get out while you can. You will never have freedom of speech on FB. Everyone needs there own uncensored platform before we're all herded into the coming "free speech zones".
https://www.thefire.org/virginia-bans-unconstitutional-campus-free-speech-zones/
be safe, comrade.
solidarity.
"We're The Ones We've Been Waiting For"
Eric,
ReplyDeleteBummer for free speech but hopefully you're self aware enough to realize your comment on FB (and repeated here) was hateful, divisive, insensitive, and ignorant...
You won't see me on Facebook....ever.
ReplyDelete@Dan1:
ReplyDeleteThank you for your measured but needed response to Eric's post:
Eric,
Bummer for free speech but hopefully you're self aware enough to realize your comment on FB (and repeated here) was hateful, divisive, insensitive, and ignorant...
__________________________________________________
I saw his post last night and was ready to reply with a few pointed thoughts but chose not to get into issues unrelated to Neil and his music.
Thanks for concisely speaking out...
Shalom, Peace and Namaste (as Thrash is fond of saying).
Take my advice,
don't listen to me.
@ Syscrusher - seems like more & more are getting out of the boat...
ReplyDelete@TopangaDaze - freedom of speech is a 2 way street, but the PC police are out of control.
"A Thin-Skinned Minority Is Ruining This Nation": Professor Crushes "Political Correctness" Wave Sweeping America
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-07/thin-skinned-minority-ruining-nation-professor-crushes-political-correctness-wave-sw
Welcome back to class, students!
I am Mike Adams your criminology professor here at UNC-Wilmington. Before we get started with the course I need to address an issue that is causing problems here at UNCW and in higher education all across the country. I am talking about the growing minority of students who believe they have a right to be free from being offended. If we don’t reverse this dangerous trend in our society there will soon be a majority of young people who will need to walk around in plastic bubble suits to protect them in the event that they come into contact with a dissenting viewpoint. That mentality is unworthy of an American. It’s hardly worthy of a Frenchman.
Let’s get something straight right now. You have no right to be unoffended. You have a right to be offended with regularity. It is the price you pay for living in a free society. If you don’t understand that you are confused and dangerously so. In part, I blame your high school teachers for failing to teach you basic civics before you got your diploma. Most of you went to the public high schools, which are a disaster. Don’t tell me that offended you. I went to a public high school.
Of course, your high school might not be the problem. It is entirely possible that the main reason why so many of you are confused about free speech is that piece of paper hanging on the wall right over there. Please turn your attention to that ridiculous document that is framed and hanging by the door. In fact, take a few minutes to read it before you leave class today. It is our campus speech code. It specifically says that there is a requirement that everyone must only engage in discourse that is “respectful.” That assertion is as ludicrous as it is illegal. I plan to have that thing ripped down from every classroom on campus before I retire.
One of my grandfathers served in World War I. My step-grandfather served in World War II. My sixth great grandfather enlisted in the American Revolution when he was only thirteen. These great men did not fight so we could simply relinquish our rights to the enemy within our borders. That enemy is the Marxists who run our public universities. If you are a Marxist and I just offended you, well, that’s tough. I guess they don’t make communists like they used to.
Unbelievably, a student once complained to the Department chairwoman that my mention of God and a Creator was a violation of Separation of Church and State. Let me be as clear as I possibly can: If any of you actually think that my decision to paraphrase the Declaration of Independence in the course syllabus is unconstitutional then you suffer from severe intellectual hernia.
Indeed, it takes hard work to become stupid enough to think the Declaration of Independence is unconstitutional. If you agree with the student who made that complaint then you are probably just an anti-religious zealot. Therefore, I am going to ask you to do exactly three things and do them in the exact order that I specify.
First, get out of my class. You can fill out the drop slip over at James Hall. Just tell them you don’t believe in true diversity and you want to be surrounded by people who agree with your twisted interpretation of the Constitution simply because they are the kind of people who will protect you from having your beliefs challenged or your feelings hurt.
[continue]
[continue]
ReplyDeleteSecond, withdraw from the university. If you find that you are actually relieved because you will no longer be in a class where your beliefs might be challenged then you aren’t ready for college. Go get a job building houses so you can work with some illegal aliens who will help you gain a better appreciation of what this country has to offer.
Finally, if this doesn’t work then I would simply ask you to get the hell out of the country. The ever-growing thinned-skinned minority you have joined is simply ruining life in this once-great nation. Please move to some place like Cuba where you can enjoy the company of communists and get excellent health care. Just hop on a leaky boat and start paddling your way towards utopia. You will not be missed.
And this sums it all up rather nicely.
ReplyDeleteStill having trouble with 'Social Justice Warriors'? Who ya gonna call?
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user3303/imageroot/2015/10-overflow/20151028_sjw.jpg
More to the picture than meets the eye...
Ya think Neil and the Real will do another leg? Sure hope so!
ReplyDelete@O- : for sure!
ReplyDeletebtw...
THERE HAS BEEN A CREEPY DEVELOPMENT WITH FACEBOOK
Get off Facebook NOW, and NEVER hit anyone elses profile or click a like again, EVER, Facebook is now BANNED for anyone with an ounce of awareness
Via a bug Facebook installs when you visit their web site or click a like, even if you have no account with facebook Facebook can keep on monitoring visitors permanently forever after, including all phone numbers, PASSWORDS TO OTHER WEB SITES, every site you ever visit ever again, and more.
There has been a new development with Facebook. Facebook now plants a bug on your computer that hands them your phone numbers, browsing history, and tracks all future history as well as all photos and anything else you do on your computer if you ever hit the web site or ever click a like, even if you have no facebook account. Facebook has gone full hostile,
AVOID FACEBOOK LIKE THE PLAGUE.
Belgium ordered them to stop doing it, and published the court case.
A court in Belgium has ordered Facebook to stop tracking the country’s Internet users who are not members of
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/11/10/437000/Facebook-Belgium-Internet-US-Cookie
more - http://82.221.129.208/ifyouareinamericayouprobablycantseethisa9.html
You need to create a Facebook "Page" which is different than a personal profile. Pages are for companies, websites, blogs, etc - and they stopped letting them use the same setup as a personal profile (which seems to be why you were banned).
ReplyDeleteYou should have no problem if you go that route, the only problem being you will have to start over from 0 followers, which I think might be unavoidable.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/create/
Just a little light, fun reading....
ReplyDelete". One of the pillars that made the Internet so mind-blowingly revolutionary was that, when you “met” someone on it, you couldn’t immediately deduce characteristics like their race, biological sex, age, height or attractiveness.
For 100,000 years of human history, those sorts of immutable physical characteristics had dictated everything from social class to evolutionary success to your chance of getting a promotion; research has found that people form an impression of you, based on nothing but your face, in as little as a tenth of a second.
But here, in the primordial fog of early cyberspace, was a chance to finally choose your destiny: to obscure those signals, or alter them, or mute them entirely. Idealists like Electronic Frontier Foundation co-founder John Perry Barlow — who wrote, in his Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace, that “our identities have no bodies” — dreamt of a Platonic space that eschewed superficial, physical concerns in favor of deeper engagements. They prophesied the end of race, of gender, of conventional social hierarchies.
“You could alter nearly every aspect of your identity: You could be a man or a woman, young or old, bald or bearded, whatever,” Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu wrote, grandly, in “Who Controls the Internet.” “With complete control over their identities, people could cluster with congenial souls to create virtual communities. … The first truly liberated communities in human history.”
Goldsmith and Wu were writing, specifically, about the philosophies of ’80s gaming communities called MUDs — basically, early versions of online role-playing games. But the idea of having a self-created “online identity,” as distinct from an imposed, physical one, persisted well into the next two decades.
Until Friendster cropped up, circa 2002, virtually every major forum, instant messenger and gaming site used avatars or buddy icons, not profile pictures, to distinguish its users. And if you, like I, are a child of the late ’90s Web, you may remember the (now-redundant) chatroom shorthand “a/s/l” and the creative license with which you answered it: On the Internet, no one knew or cared you were a dog.
Until, of course, they did."
via "What it’s like to be a hot girl online ( … when you’re a nerdy guy in real life)"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/03/16/what-its-like-to-be-a-hot-girl-online-when-youre-a-nerdy-guy-in-real-life/
Unless -- of course -- just maybe TW is really a hot girl in real life just trying to be a nerdy guy online?!