Facebook announced it will keep political ads on their platform. Twitter announced it will no longer allow political ads on their platform. I’m with Twitter on this one. I could make arguments that either one of them is handling it correctly but that is not what I am going to do here. I’ll make those arguments on Tuesday’s Davin’s Den.
From a societal standpoint we are inundated with politics. I’m the last one to say that politics has no place in social discourse or in entertainment. I talk about politics in my act. Some comedians shy away from it. I make people laugh at the politicians. I show how flawed they or the system is. Social media ads for politicians will do none of that. It will just be more of a reason for people to argue or believe what their politician of choice wants them to believe. That is fine but it is not making us anymore social.
I would argue it is making us more anti-social. Everyone is a bit braver when they are hiding behind a keyboard. This leads to increased rudeness and intolerance. I feel it is helping grow the divide in this country. It is tearing us apart. With comedy I can bring people together when I talk about politics and we can all laugh. I see very little of this on social media. Social media was supposed to bring us together. Politics has helped turn social media against us.
It is not like we will not be subjected to political ads. They can still reach us on tv, in emails, on radio, on billboards, on phone calls, via sky writers and I am sure more. It would be nice to have social media be a safe space from the politicians.
I would much rather see your post of a cuddly kitten or your sandwich than an ad by Donald Trump or Joe Biden. I actually remember when social media was not full of advertisements or politics. We whined about people who whined in their posts about how cold or hot it was. I’ll take those posts over Libtard this or Trumpster that. Now of course we will still have those posts but at least we wouldn’t see the politician’s ads every few scrolls down. Because you know we would be inundated. Especially if you already post anything about politics. Social media is very good at targeting their advertisements. I think my feed would be nothing but politicians. I can honestly tell you I have never been swayed a political advertisement. I know they are nothing but propaganda and talking points. However, many of my fellow citizens do get swayed. I think the ads and the proximity would lead to even more nastiness on social media.
So really I think I would just like a break from the nastiness. If getting rid of political ads will do that then count me in. I’d much rather “argue” about the color of the dress in the picture like we use to do in the glory days of social media.
