unbeknownsttosociety-blog

[unbeknownsttosociety-blog]

School Shootings

  I don’t even know where to start with this subject. The last one since drafting this post was the Maryland shooting on March 20th. About a month after the Florida shooting. In total 18 died, 17 harmed.

  It’s shocking how often these horrendous acts of violence occur. Something needs to be fixed and I’m not going to claim to know what. All I know is it’s not gun bans. And not that #WalkUp bullshit. 

  The Maryland shooting ended with an officer shooting and killing the gunman, 17 year old, Austin Wyatt Rollins. 

  Firstly, I want to commend that officer for preventing any more casualties. But, I also want to bring up the fact that Rollins was a 17 year old. He should not have had that gun.

  I can understand those calling for a gun ban or firmer gun control; even more so, I understand those saying a criminal will break any law regardless. But I do think law abiding citizens have a responsibility to do all they can to protect each other. Would it really harm your 2nd amendment right to own guns to submit to lets say annual checks to see that you’re storing your guns and ammo safely? Not being able to have bump stocks? This is the for the well-being of our people.

Secondly, The #WalkUp movement. A school shooter or any other murderer, no doubt, have serious mental issues. One or two people sitting with them at lunch isn’t going to cut it. If anything it’s going to terrify students into thinking every wallflower has homicidal thoughts. Then on the other side, the loners are going to feel even more rejected because they know the peers that suddenly noticed them are scared of them.

  There’s no sure fire way of fixing this epidemic in America but for Christ’s sake, stop bickering and do whatever you can as an individual.

[unbeknownsttosociety-blog]

This country man... what was the last president that wasn’t surrounded in controversy?

[unbeknownsttosociety-blog]

We’re taking steps to protect against future interference in our political conversation by state-sponsored propaganda campaigns

Hi Tumblr,

We’re all grappling with the influence that state-sponsored disinformation campaigns can have on our political conversations—and how wide-spread that interference turned out to be. So please take a moment to read this, think about it, and talk about it.

Last fall, we uncovered 84 Tumblr accounts linked to the Russian government through the Internet Research Agency, or IRA. These accounts were being used as part of a disinformation campaign leading up to the 2016 U.S. election. After uncovering the activity, we notified law enforcement, terminated the accounts, and deleted their original posts. Behind the scenes, we worked with the Department of Justice, and the information we provided helped indict 13 people who worked for the IRA.

Now that the investigations are done, we want to let you know how we’re going to help protect Tumblr in the future and what you can do to help.

Here’s what we know about these accounts

The IRA employs more than 1,000 people who engage in electronic disinformation and propaganda campaigns around the world using phony social media accounts. Their goal is to sow division and discontent in the countries they target. What makes them so difficult to spot is that they’re not spambots. They’re real people who get trained and paid to spread propaganda.

As far as we can tell, the IRA-linked accounts were only focused on spreading disinformation in the U.S., and they only posted organic content. We didn’t find any indication that they ran ads.

Remember, the IRA and other state-sponsored disinformation campaigns play off our zero-sum politics. They want to drive a wedge between us so that we spend our time fighting with each other instead of building towards the future. We’ll be watching for signs of future activity, but the best defense is knowing how they operate and how to judge the content you see.

What we’re doing in response to the interference

First, we’ll be emailing anyone who liked, reblogged, replied to, or followed an IRA-linked account with the list of usernames they engaged with.

Second, we’re going to start keeping a public record of usernames we’ve linked to the IRA or other state-sponsored disinformation campaigns. We’re committed to transparency and want you to know everything that we know.

We’ve decided to leave up any reblog chains that might be on your Tumblrs—you can choose to leave them or delete them. We’re letting you decide because the reblog chains contain posts created by real Tumblr users, often challenging or debunking the false and incendiary claims in the IRA-linked original post. Removing those authentic posts without your consent would encroach on your free speech—and there have been enough disruptions to our conversations as it is.

What we’re doing to stop future disinformation campaigns

You’ve probably read that U.S. intelligence officials expect foreign agents to try similar propaganda campaigns in the future. We’ll be monitoring Tumblr for signs of state-sponsored disinformation campaigns, and if we see anything we will…

Terminate the accounts and remove their original posts.

Notify you if we determine that you’ve liked, reblogged, replied to, or followed a propaganda account.

Add the username to the public record.

Alert law enforcement.

There are also things you can do to help stop the spread of disinformation and propaganda.

Be aware that people want to manipulate the conversation. Knowing that disinformation and propaganda accounts are out there makes it harder for them to operate. The News Literacy Project has this handy checklist for spotting their tricks.

Be skeptical of things you read. Disinformation campaigns work because they know people don’t fact check. Look for reliable sources, and double-check that the source really says the same thing as the post. You can also check Snopes and Politifact. Both are award-winning resources and usually have the latest viral claim fact checked on the front page. 

Correct the record. When you see people spreading misinformation—even unintentionally—politely say something in a reblog or reply. If it’s your friend, send them a message to let them know.

One last note: Please vote.

Transparency won’t mean a thing if we don’t participate in the process. Whatever your political stance, voting ensures a government that represents your interests. For our U.S. users: You can register online or by mail, and many states are holding primaries right now.

[unbeknownsttosociety-blog]

If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.

George Washington

[unbeknownsttosociety-blog]

The Beginning

  This blog is going to serve as a way to get my opinions out without (hopefully) causing drama. I am going to state this now. I will not pick a political party. Politics and the state of any country is not football. Stay objective don’t just rally for your party.

  Secondly, I will do my best not to post about things I do not have strong evidence backing up my opinion. That doesn’t mean I’m always right. But it is my well formed opinion that you have every right to disagree with.

OK, let the fuckery begin.