Tag Archives: Social Media

There May Be Hope for AI, and America

By Rob Meyne

  • Dec. 29, 2023
  • 5-min read

We are fortunate that a major advancement in how we learn about public policy is on the way. This is good news. Stay tuned for a moment.

First, if you’re one of those people who says it is hard to be informed about current events, it is time to decide if you care enough to do it. Sorry, but the stakes are so high you need to decide if the future of the nation matters enough to you to be an informed citizen. Pick a lane. Our only hope for the future of the country is that enough people will sufficiently care that they will be well-informed and base their voting decisions accordingly.

It is understandable that we all have busy lives. But we do those things that are most important to us. If you aren’t informed, it is ultimately because you don’t put a high enough priority on it. We all have the same number of hours in a day. How we use them is up to us.

I don’t care about the San Diego Padres. They could disappear entirely, and it wouldn’t affect my daily routine at all. My friend at work, though, loves the Padres. She can tell you in what order they batted last night. But she can’t tell you what charges have been made against Trump regarding January 6. (She hates Trump and assumes he led an insurrection but can’t tell you what evidence exists to prove that.)

We learn about those things we care about. If you want to know what matters to someone, find where they spend their time, attention, and resources. That is your answer.

One good thing about the web is that it has never been easier to learn about current events. There is more information available, instantly, than ever before and more is out there every day. There are more web pages than there are people. And it isn’t even close.

The catch, of course, is that most media is biased. And AI is being used to develop false stories. Yes, you must look at more than one source and learn which is truly credible. When you read a story or watch it, note if there is a reliable reference for the information. Most are not well-sourced. I make a point to read things I don’t agree with every day, just to force myself to hear the other side, learn what they think, and possibly – hopefully – learn information that may conflict with what I had thought to be true, or even completely new information that may change my views.

As an aside, I am astonished that most people are afraid of finding out they are wrong. I love it when it happens. I WANT to have the correct information. I will arrogantly add, of course, that it doesn’t happen often 😊. I study this stuff so closely I am, if you’ll excuse me saying so, well-informed. Most people are not. But if I learn facts that conflict with what I thought to be true, I am happy because it matters more to me to be correct than to have my political biases confirmed. Most people are too insecure to be that comfortable.

I would never look at just one source, but one that I do recommend, and that impeccably sources their stories, is the Blaze. Its founder is a conservative guy but not a member of either party. He criticizes Republicans Democrats equally. And he invites us – on radio, online, and in his books – to make up our own minds.

His last book was over 400 pages, more than 50 of which were footnotes. Check it out and decide for yourself. Beck has been attacked by the left, of course, because he is effective. They generally don’t attack people they aren’t afraid of. They don’t waste their time. Beck has even been called a White Supremacist, which is simply a lie. No one in public life is more committed to equal opportunity, or more against racism, than Beck. But the mainstream media and political elite don’t want you to hear him.

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You’re Living in a Different World Than Everyone Else

By Rob Meyne

  • May 20, 2023
  • 4-min read

If you ever feel like you are living in a different world than your friends, neighbors, or work mates, it is because you are. We may reside on the same planet, but the specifics that make up our “worlds” are distinct in infinite ways.

Our opinions on political issues are often in conflict because they are based on a completely different understanding of the facts. It is hard to overstate how much this contributes to national division.

Constructive policy can be developed through collaboration and compromise. But it is difficult to do that when you don’t even agree on the facts. Since we’re not making decisions based on a common, agreed upon set of data, it is inevitable there will be huge disagreements.

A variety of dynamic factors have led to this.

For one, the way we get information has changed more dramatically in the past two decades than at any time since a guy named Guttenberg was doing his thing. Newspapers, broadcast TV, and radio are still around, but their influence is waning. Cable and streaming services exert tremendous influence, as do podcasts, social media, and various subscription services.

Mainstream “corporate” media is still powerful, but its role has been largely usurped by digital communications that are accessible wirelessly. This diversification in communications – the way information is conveyed – is unprecedented and getting more complex.

Two, governmental agencies, mainstream media, tech companies, political organizations, and NGOs are very good at coordinating their activities, suppressing speech, and promoting only those messages that meet their preferred narratives. If you don’t believe this, spend ten minutes looking at the “Twitter Files.” It is no longer deniable that the CIA, FBI, and even the Democratic National Committee are able to censor stories on Twitter and other platforms on an ongoing basis.

As artificial intelligence gets more pervasive, it will become the source of editorial direction that impacts everything we see. It will make it easier to censor even accurate information long before it has a chance to enter your newsfeed or inbox.

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Facebook/Fakebook’s Misleading “Whistleblower” Narrative

By Rob Meyne

Fakebook Wants Regulation

  • Oct. 8, 2021
  • 4-min read

If all you do is read the headlines or watch the tv while napping, you miss the most important elements of many stories. This week saw a well-coordinated effort to present a misleading narrative on Facebook/Fakebook. The long-term strategy is to further justify, or even require, censorship by social media. It featured a Facebook executive in a media campaign planned and directed by Bill Burton, the former Obama message maven, and his agency, as outlined here.

Sunday, Sixty Minutes aired a story about a supposed “whistleblower” who discussed internal research by Facebook that revealed damaging information about its business. It raised issues that have received little or no attention from management. Facebook, unsurprisingly, prioritizes profits and power, and has failed to address a number of problematic effects it has on users, notably young people.
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If You’re Ever Going to Defend
Free Speech, The Time is Now

Speech is the foundation of our republic.

Rob Meyne

  • July 19, 2021
  • 4 min read

Of all the criticisms that have been made about me – it is not a short list – no one has ever suggested I am shy about expressing my opinion. It has been said I can walk into an empty room and start an argument. There is probably some truth to that.
However, I will never have to regret I was unwilling to take a stand. No one says “Why won’t Rob just tell us what he thinks?”

Plus, in politics, over-reaction is often the coin of the realm.

Today, we face political developments so damaging to the fabric of our republic that exaggeration is hardly possible. Do you believe the damage being done to our nation, in particular to the First Amendment, is defensible? If so, with all due respect, you are either uninformed, don’t understand the essential role of freedom in our nation, or are actively seeking to bring it down. There are no other options.
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We’ve Ditched Twitter – and Glad to have Done It

By J Robert Smith

  • Jun 13
  • 2 min read

Looking at the Flyover page, you may have noticed that there are headers for Twitter threads for Rob and myself. The feeds are gone. We both quit Twitter. Good riddance.

In my case, I ended my account when oddball Jack Dorsey cancelled President Trump’s account. That was the last straw. Prior to that, beginning in July 2020, my 15,500 thousand-strong account was deboosted by Twitter. I wasn’t being singled out, though.

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Trump’s Out at Facebook. Let’s Stop Chasing Big Tech Platforms


By J Robert Smith

  • May 5, 2021
  • 3 min read

The Facebook Oversight Board ruled earlier today that former president Donald Trump is gone from its platform – for good, it appears. Throw in Instagram.

The statement released by the Board is a bunch high-minded sounding goop. Read the decision here. Bottom-line: Banishing Trump when he was president was a powerplay. Keeping Trump off Zuckerberg’s platforms is – yes, you guessed it – a powerplay. It’s a powerplay premised on a Big Lie.

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Can You Like Someone’s “Like?”

Rob Meyne

  • Feb. 7, 2020
  • 4 min read

In the information age, one would think we would be better informed. Duh. But are we?

We have access to more information than ever before. Yet humans only pay attention to what interests them. With a world of information just a click away, have we raised the bar of civilization by going en masse to absorb the wisdom of Euripides, Jung, or Chaucer? Not so much.

The top U. S. web sites include many that lead elsewhere. Google or DuckDuckGo are paths to another destination. On the other hand, when you go to Pornhub it’s not because you’re trying to order tennis shoes.

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