I was Facebook's Pawn: A Confession

Facebook is a cesspool of invalid information.  Image is public Domain.

Dear readers, I used to be a huge proponent of FB.  I am a librarian and early on I realized the potential of social media for networking, sharing information and as a medium for learning. 

This is no longer the case.

I used to believe FB was a great tool to share information.

It is not even a good tool for sharing information.  

I am an information professional.  Part of my job is teaching students information literacy.  Here is a definition of Information Literacy that ALA uses:

Information literacy is a set of abilities requiring individuals to "recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information." 

This has much to do with the the person's ability to search for and find valid information.  

Most dictionaries define validity as: "The quality of being logically or factually sound;  soundness or cogency.

This is fundamental to using information to create knowledge. That is to say, if you use corrupted information to create knowledge--then that knowledge will be corrupted and invalid. 

Facebook is a cesspool of false, misleading and triggering information.

Facebook is able to build a psychological profile of users and then use this profile information to 'feed' information that will trigger certain reactions in that targeted user.  They know what we have shared in the past and what led up to this sharing.  This is incredibly powerful information and is key to understanding how their stimulus response system works.

The 2016 election results were partially a result of this.  

I can no longer use FB as an information professional.

Will I use it to promote my books and other work?

Yes--most certainly.

However, I won't use it as a vehicle to share information any longer.

I can't trust the information I am 'fed' on FB.

I often share information that is:

• Old
• Semi-true
• Biased

I am not the only information professional that does this.

Since it is a networking interface--I often receive information from other librarians, teachers, authors, activists, etc...that is invalid. 

Sometimes I share information based on my trust of the individual, but many times they have been manipulated into sharing this invalid information and I unknowingly pass this on.  People might think that since I'm a librarian--what I share is valid---when it sometimes isn't.  Then they pass it on.  I hope you see where I'm going with this. 

One point here is that it is so hard to tell what is true and what is not--or that I will have to go out and triangulate every piece of information I am 'fed' if I want to share valid information on FB.  Another point is that even information professionals share invalid information on FB.  

Throw in the psychologically triggering aspect and this makes FB an invalid tool for sharing information.  

The Gesture by Shirt58

I would also say that libraries and librarians should be wary of promoting FB in light of the above.

As an Information Professional it is unethical to promote a platform that shares invalid information with our patrons and to students.

Should we maintain FB pages?

Sure--there are plenty of reasons to use FB.

One would be outreach.

A library could use it's FB pages to teach patrons how bad an information source FB is and why they shouldn't use it as an information source.

Another reason to use FB is support groups.  Support groups on FB can be wonderful if properly moderated.  Just take a look at the Library Employee Support Network on FB.  

Where users share information with one another in a shared interest group is another reason.  Certain professional development groups are wonderful on FB.  I can think of the REFORMA Think tank as one example of a good use of FB.  

Groups are still a valid use of FB--provided they are not just a place where people share FB feed information.

So, I am no longer an active user of FB.  Those who know me--know I have been a active  proponent of FB and other social media.  I am rethinking my use of other social media, but I was never as convinced of any other platform as I was  of FB.  The idea that it was a great tool--was true for me for years and years.  

It is not a good tool for sharing information.  

Is it a good tool for contacting your old high school classmates?

For sure.

Is it a good tool to keep in touch with family?

Yes!

Is it a good news or information source?

Most definitely not!

Have a great holiday season!

The Mottoes of our Libraries Should be #LoveNOTHate #ListenWithYourHeartAndFeel

One of the symptoms of being unconsciously inculcated by #Whiteness is the inability to see the experiences of POC as they are lived by POC.

When I was teaching my children to be empathetic, I always told them that,

When someone asks you to stop something--particularly when they say you are hurting them--you stop what you are doing immediately.  You don't come up with excuses (reasons) why you should be able to continue to hurt them.  You don't continue hurting them.

The inability to see other's pain and to listen to them when they tell you about this pain--particularly if you are causing it--indicates a fundamental loss of humanity.  It also indicates a deeply narcissistic quality that seems to border on sociopathy.

This is an indication of unsound mental health.

A large part of our culture is sick like this.

Our nation is unhealthy in this aspect.

We should not repress this.

We should talk about it, and begin to heal this.

Libraries can help with this.

We can help with empathy programming.

Holding reconciliation talks.

Hold listening sessions for all sides.

But when someone begins to spout racist, threatening language--they NEED to leave the library.

Librarians hold information sacred, and we should continue to do so.  If racists, threatening people want to have a library--they should be able to have one--their own--private libraries.

We can talk about how they want to murder and 'get rid' of us all they want.  OUR public dollars should NEVER go toward supporting organizations that threaten other AMERICANS and other PEOPLE in general.  


#Love, the love of education, the love of knowledge, the love of teaching, the love of collecting and sharing great concepts and ideas is at the heart of what we do.  We can't let hate destroy that!

The mottoes of our libraries should be #LoveNOTHate #ListenWithYourHeartAndFeel

We can work together to help our nation get healthy.

Lets not, as librarians and people, enable our nation to be of unsound mental health.

We need to talk about this kind of stuff in relation to the library bill of rights, the ethics of librarianship and the mission of libraries.

The mottoes of our libraries should be #LoveNOTHate #ListenWithYourHeartAndFeel.

Fake News Stories are Related to Culture and Information Literacy

[This blog post is a sketch of ideas. I plan on fleshing these ideas out.  I want to share them now though.]

Fake News as Related to Culture and Information Literacy:

The recent information that has come out about fake news sites and stories that were shared on social media and influenced the recent elections are directly related to the concept of Information and Culture.  The idea of controlling public perception via the control of media was perfected by the Nazis' Josef Goebbels.  Now the ideas of Edward Bernays have been combined with Goebbels  techniques to manipulate and reinforce the idea of Whiteness in US culture. In many ways, this election was about Whiteness versus the alternative developing multicultural worldview that exist within the USA.  These ideas, because a lack of access to education and publishing by people of color, are still developing.  The pace this development has picked up steam recently. The backlash by the Racists in our country is a reaction to this progress.

As a person of color, I am struck by how similar these fake news sites and stories are to how the dominant culture publishes and diffuses the idea of Whiteness.  This is done by packaging and repackaging the idea that europeans and european culture are the most important things in the world.  Whiteness also sees itself as the epitome of culture.  It sees itself as superior in every manner.  
This message is embedded in our history particularly.  People of color and other marginalized groups have been almost completely left out of history, except for using them as examples of primitive culture or other savageries.

Not only does this apply to people of color, it applies to class, gender, sexual identity, and physical ability and more.

The #Breitbart Nazis and their ilk are good at FAKE news stories. In fact, they proved that people didn't care if the news was fake after the fact. #ACORN story. How do you think their techniques of social control will be incorporated into our educational system?

Our stories, information relevant to our understanding of our history, liberatory information, information that could topple the concept of #Whiteness which is so embedded in every aspect of our culture. We need to tell our own stories and to develop our own ideas about the world without being boxed in by Whiteness.

Purposes of fake news:

The purposes of the fake news sites and stories seem to be to form and shape (CONTROL) public opinion about particular political and societal viewpoints.

Social control

Promotion of Whiteness as the norm.

Purposes of fake information in libraries and education:

The purposes of the fake news sites and stories seem to be to form and shape (CONTROL) public opinion about particular political and societal viewpoints.

Social control

Promotion of Whiteness as the norm.

We have been living with Fake News and Fake Books, and Information for a long time in the USA.

Whiteness in Libraries

Whiteness in US Libraries

[Note--this is a blog post.  These ideas can and will be further developed.  These ideas are sketches of what I am thinking at the moment.  Feedback is encouraged and welcome.]

US schools and libraries serve as points of diffusion for Whiteness.  

Whiteness, as used in this post is defined as the concept that European people and European culture are more important than other people and other cultures.  

Whiteness is purveyed uncritically in libraries.  This shucking of Whiteness is done under the guise of objectivity, of adhering the the 'marketplace' of ideas.  But this so-called neutrality is really an adherence and capitulation to the Whiteness paradigm.  

Children of color hear the message of Whiteness--"European people and European culture are more important than other people and other cultures.  

Children of color live in a world of discrimination and bias in US schools.  

Some think US culture is not European. But US culture is derived from European culture and is fundamentally White-supremacist. 

I don't say this lightly.  Whiteness is embedded in our culture.  From the shapes of the buildings, to the hierarchies of the library staff and administration.  This is especially true in the American Library world. Ethnic categories, demeaning classifications, cataloging systems with names like the Anglo American Cataloging Rules, and staff who (too often) don't look like the people who live in the neighborhood.  Microagressions, discrimination, hiring bias and collections centered around Whiteness all are outcomes of the ubiquitousness of  this paradigm in our libraries.  

Engravings on Multnomah Co. Library Central Building Photo by Ismoon Maria Hunter-Morton.

Many people will now be thinking that I am saying all White people are racist, or that all White people are bad, or some such nonsense.  That is not what  I intend to say.  I'm saying that the idea of Whiteness, as defined above, is what our country was founded upon. 

European immigrants live on stolen indigenous land.

These immigrants and their descendants committed genocide against Indigenous peoples throughout the Americas.

The wealth of the Americas, in large part, was created by slave labor. This slave labor was both African and Indigenous.  

Whiteness says that this is okay, that this is correct and that it is justified. Those who adhere to Whiteness also believe in these fundamental principles.  Mostly, the information found in libraries says it is okay, natural and normal, or does not bother to address these issues...

Engravings on Multnomah Co. Library Central Building.  Photo by Ismoon Maria Hunter-Morton.

The diffusion model works something like this:

Whiteness, brought from Europe has been part of US Educational system from the beginning.

Children are inculcated with #Whiteness via books, lectures and the culture of US schools.

Some children become authors, scientists and other types of academics.  They produce information and knowledge in the form of books and other types of media.

Racist mainstream 'Intellectual' book 

The knowledge, which too many authors, scientists and academics create is fundamentally flawed with Whiteness embedded within. Even if the creators of this knowledge are people of color. They are working with tainted information that has not been fully analyzed from a cultural perspective. This lends itself to embedding Whiteness in all new knowledge created from this information. This is why we have seen no real advancements, even with the educated people of color. They exist within and are heavily influenced by Whiteness. Libraries serve as key distribution points for culturally biased information.

One example is historic documentation Thomas Jefferson, as a land-owner and slaveholder, is understood to be a rapist. He took advantage of his position and raped his slaves, yet he is still hailed as a hero still. This is Whiteness. 

Thomas Jefferson (Slave Rapist) bust in the Library of Congress

Technology in libraries needs to be reexamined with a critical eye. Embedded Whiteness prevails. Metadata, algorithms and other location tools are just as infected with Whiteness as the rest of the library world and larger American Educational culture. This issue is particularly pertinent as we transition into a more digital information world.  

These people are probably still in control of your library technology.

The idea that White people, European Americans are more important, smarter, better, stronger, more worthy, and that their culture is superior is embedded in most of the books in US libraries. People check out these books and are then influenced by these books. And since most of these books have the message of Whiteness uncritically embedded in them, the reader is most often influenced by Whiteness without giving it the critical eye it deserves.

This is how libraries serve as points of diffusion for Whiteness paradigm.

Culture and Information Literacy Video

This is a video I created (with help from the school's video production team) for my introductory Information Literacy class. It was meant to broach the subject of Culture and Information Literacy. It can be used to generate a discussion or as a reflection writing assignment catalyst. I would LOVE feedback on this please.

Information and Culture Video (very rough 1st draft)