Noted

  I heard on the news that Facebook (Meta) has fired the fact checkers and will rely upon community notes. Now, not being particularly tech savvy and up to date on all of that I went to Wikipedia. This is the opening paragraph explaining what community notes are: "Community Notes, formerly known as Birdwatch, is a feature on X (formerly Twitter) where contributors can add context such as fact-checks under a post, image or video. It is a community-driven content moderation program, intended to provide helpful and informative context, based on a crowd-sourced system. Notes are applied to potentially misleading content by an algorithm not based on majority rule, but instead agreement from users on different sides of the political spectrum." 

  That sure cleared that up! Community notes used to be "birdwatch" on a platform formerly known as twitter where you can add your opinion not based on the majority of opinions, but the ones decided upon by an algorithm. So basically the computer gets to decide what is opinion and what isn't opinion but that doesn't mean it is a fact. It is those things we agree to disagree upon. Well, sounds quite helpful to me. Isn't that the idea behind Wikipedia? I read stuff there often enough, I'm asked to contribute money to continue that "warehouse" of knowledge. The implication being, everything on Wikipedia is the straight up truth which is a straight up lie. I believe Wikipedia as fast as I believe the National Enquirer or the New York Times. Both of those publications are just as credible.

  Community notes; word of mouth is what we used to call that. There may or may not be a basis in truth. The reality is simple enough to understand, people will react to whatever they believe to be the truth. All the presentation of "facts" will not alter that. Reason is based on the perceived affect an action will have on the individual. If I figure it will harm me, it's an unreasonable action. Yeah, it is that simple. Facts are only useful when justifying your reasons. Facts are only useful to others when they haven't yet decided upon an action. Facts rarely change perceived reality. So the purpose of community notes is really to create a reality we can all agree upon. Ah, the stuff of dreams. The objective is to get others to share our dreams. That is how nations are formed! 

 I did notice how many of those platforms used to be called something else. Formerly this or that. Can a leopard change its' spots? That is what all the name changing is about, changing perception. Did you know that idiom comes from the Bible? I wasn't aware of that until I looked it up. It is an astute observation and the truth of the matter. It's the same as exercising sound judgement. The judgement may or may not result in condemnation, but that isn't how the majority see it. The majority thinks of judgement as a bad thing, something you shouldn't do. Well, unless we all agree upon the verdict that is. That is what community notes is supposed to provide. Really doesn't have a thing to do with the truth or the facts. Progress? No, same as always just a different name. 

 Content moderation is the objective. What does that mean? It means, watch your mouth! That's what I grew up with, also known as keeping a civil tongue in your head. Failure to do so may result in a mouth full of chiclets! Chiclets, for you younger folks, are a candy that resemble teeth in appearance. The warning was, you might get punched in the mouth. That was back in my day, before we felt marginalized or offended. Back then we just got mad and would strike! Wasn't a lot of discussion about feelings and empathy back then, action spoke louder than words. But today many people just cower behind their keyboards and fight their imaginary enemies. So we need content moderation. Ok, I'll make a note of that. I'll inform the community.