One week from today, we will be searing in Donald Trump as the next President of the United States – Entering Trump Era 2. He won a legitimately held election, though maybe not with the “mandate” he claims. He will have a Republican led Senate and House of Representatives along with a Supreme Court that is, at the very least, friendly towards his political ideas. Aside from a few spats with his own party here and there, the world is his oyster. And on this blog, I don’t plan to rage about the day-to-day ins and outs of every policy decision he makes. But, when there is something egregious or dangerous enough to warrant a discussion, you will be able to see it here.
With every Presidential election comes the donations from large companies or groups to the inauguration fund. These go to throw the parties and balls that each administration has as part of the celebration of the transfer of power. Regardless of who wins the election, the donations roll in. And I expected nothing less from Microsoft, Apple, Meta than to donate. In case you are not aware, most large organizations made donations to both sides because they want to gain favor from those who can make changes to their industry. It’s a time honored tradition of corporate entanglement in politics.
While the above does not concern me above the money-in-politics issue, what does concern me is that Meta, Amazon, and other organizations that are scrapping initiatives inside their own company because they want to have favor with the incoming administration. And what worries me even more is the loss of safeguards that will now allow venom and misinformation into the public discourse. I’m a huge free speech proponent, but free speech is not a unlimited right. We do not protect speech related to incitement, obscenity, defamation and there are other legal limits for the public good. More importantly, the First Amendment applies to Government censorship of speech. As detestable as I find some speech, I do not think you should go to jail for the things your write and say – again with the noticeable exceptions from above. Meta, Amazon, and these others are private companies who are not bound to allow limitless speech on their platforms.
Meta announced changes to their content moderation policy. Soon, on Facebook, Instagram, and other Meta platforms, it will be completely appropriate to call Trans People “mentally ill” or gay people “freaks.” Women can now be compared to household objects. Immigrants can be targeted with hate speech online while they are being targeted for deportation by the incoming administration. The Meta-written policy also uses terms like “homosexuality” and “transgenderism,” which are dated terms that are typically used by opponents of those groups. None of this had to be done by Meta, chose to do it.
Furthermore, the CEO Mark Zuckerberg went on the Joe Rogan show and talked about the need for a return of “Masculine Energy.” It is hard to fathom how there is a lack of masculine energy when ~66% of its workforce is Male. There is nothing wrong with masculinity or femineity, or people who lie somewhere in between. Going onto a show like Joe Rogan to discuss a return of Masculine Energy after cutting your DEI budget, getting rid of fact checkers, and removing safeguards on your platform that allow women to be compared to objects is not the example of a nuanced discussion on equity of genders. It is a castration of Zuckerberg and Meta by the Trump administration. I feel like I should not have expected more from the guy who started a platform to rate the attractiveness of women at his college, but somehow I had hoped he had matured since then. I guess, this screenshot from The Social Network can be dusted off a bit.
Beyond the social media changes there is the exploitation of the tragic California Fires to push an anti-DEI narrative. Kristin Crowley is the Chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department. Her accolades are amazing, among them being one of the Top 50 people to finish the firefighter exam in 1998, serving in the LAFD since 2000, and had roles ranging from firefighter, engineer, fire inspector battalion chief, fire marshal, and deputy chief inside the department. She also happens to be a Lesbian who wanted to promote a “work environment that is free of harassment, discrimination, and hazing.” I am not a fire fighter or an expert of fire management policies. I believe we will look back on this in a few months after an investigation and see that everyone could have done something better. But, to say or imply that Crowley was not qualified to be in her position is ridiculous.
Steel yourself, it is going to be a long four years. But more importantly, while government and some corporations are going to let us down, we need to be there for each other to help maintain our strength.
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