Burningbird

Zuckerberg leaves us with one question

Post author By Shelley Powers
Post date January 8, 2025

It wasn’t difficult to quit X-witter years ago, and I really haven’t missed it.

It also wasn’t difficult to quit Threads, and I’ve never been interested in Instagram.

So far, Bluesky isn’t evil and I hope it stays this way. And Mastodon’s purely distributed and open nature prevents Mordor from claiming it.

But Facebook…

Zuckerberg has always been a smarmy self-serving asshole of the first degree. Now, with his Trump ass-kissing to a humiliating degree, I, like many of you, are left having to make a decision about staying or going.

After some thought, I decided I’m both staying and going.

The ways I’m staying

I co-admin for a group, New Savannah Town Square. The good thing about being admin for this group is I and the other co-admin are boss.

Zuckerberg can let all sorts of MAGA crap into Facebook, but that doesn’t mean they can come into our group. As I posted recently:

Lies will be blocked
Misinformation will be deleted
Bigots will be banned

Zuckerberg doesn’t care if he’s crawling in the dung heap but the rest of us do. I can’t control Facebook generally, but I can control what happens in this group.

In addition, I have friends I keep in contact with on Facebook. Currently, I’m trying to locate them in Mastodon and Bluesky and creating lists in both services so I can actually go out and see a feed with just my friends and not a lot else. It’s easier to keep in contact with folks using this approach than Facebook with all the ads and cruft.

BUT…not everyone is in Mastodon and Bluesky and I’m not willing to abandon my connections to them in Facebook. Yet.

The Ways I’m going

I’m keeping my posts private, no longer commenting on any posts other than those belonging to friends, and I will block with wild abandon and glee.

I won’t read the comments to posts of public officials. I learned this by reading the comments on Savannah Mayor Van Johnson’s posts (a lot of really nasty racists in this area). Frankly, I think every government and public official account should close comments to all their posts considering the filth coming their way. However, their choice. Mine is to not engage.

In addition, I will spend less time on Facebook, more time here at Burningbird. And for those folks who like posts in an email, I copy my Bb posts to Substack (which has its own issues but does provide rent-free commenting and email support).

However, just because I’m not closing down my Facebook account doesn’t mean I’m not keeping my bags packed, ready to bug out. There’s always that question in the back of my mind:

Should I stay or should I go?

Well now, 2024 didn’t go quite as we planned

Post author By Shelley Powers
Post date December 29, 2024

Things blowed up

I was, and I was not, surprised by Trump’s re-election.

I knew there were too many men who would normally vote Democrat who balk at electing a women to be Commander-in-Chief; particularly a Black/Asian woman. I knew that thanks to the rebound from COVID that prices are high—aided and abetted by corporations using COVID as an excuse to squeeze even more profits from the masses. I also knew that the media had done a poor job of holding Trump accountable, while at the same time blowing up any and all perceived Democratic weakness.

Still, I was not emotionally or mentally prepared for Trump to win again. Worse, to actually get the popular vote, though he ended up with less than 50% of the vote.

So, OK. It is what it is. So what am I planning on doing about it?

Speak truth. Or, more comprehensively, tap into any and all changes reflected in Trump’s administration and be prepared to write about as many as possible. And to continue monitoring court cases, especially in courts tainted by Trump-appointed judges.

However, on the way to this writing goal, real life intruded. Suddenly, a month ago, I started getting a visual distortion in the center of my ‘good’ eye (the one that doesn’t have the cataract that needed removing).

I first saw my optometrist, since I had a previously scheduled appointment. She noted I needed cataract surgery but couldn’t tell, or hesitated to tell me, what was happening to my central vision. She referred me to an eye clinic.

When the clinic didn’t call by week’s end, I called up and said, this is something that can’t wait and I needed to come in. They got me in that afternoon.

Evidently, I have a hole in my macula (macular hole). This is a rare occurrence, impacting on 7.8 people per 100,000. It happens when the vitreous pulls aware from the retina—very common with older folk—but instead of pulling away cleanly, it rips a hole in the macula.

We caught it small and the usual procedure is to wait a few months to see if it closes back up naturally (unfortunately, unlikely to happen). In addition, I have to have cataracts in both eyes removed: the one because it’s pretty bad, the other because the retinal surgeon needs a clear view of my eye for retinal surgery (don’t ask for details on this one).

For now, I have my monitor set to 300% resolution, and I can read and write, but it’s not always easy. It should improve with the first cataract removal, but vision may be a challenge after surgery to fix the macula for a few months at least. We’ll have to see.

I still plan on watchdogging the Trump administration and the courts as much as possible, but I’m also adding in some coverage of our medical industry, particularly in Georgia. Knowledge is power, and it’s too easy to feel powerless when you’re hit with a serious medical condition.

Besides, there’s nothing more wonky than exploring the depths of Medicare, medicine, doctors, and health insurance. And I enjoy the wonky.