10 years on facebook

10 years on facebook.

you can see it in my face
i got a message from god
it said thankyou for letting
us have you for 10 years

I feel had
I feel bad for the sad
emoticons ;-(

out of context
the ads and the analytics
the sale and resale of
digital habits
to vultures

the devices and divisive
slices of non-choices between
brexit or remain
trump and Clinton
numb to the pain
swipe on

and all the goodness too
the laughs and funnies
the latest news and gossip
pictures and video
going live
going live

and hot tips on flame wars
griefers and alt righters
girls boys cats dogs
and all those birthday wishes
and virtual hugs

not to moan or rant about facebook
like ranting at the
state that feeds you
or fighting a ghost
up in the clouds
deal with it

face up to the horrible
fact that facebook is a
king mob

the largest mass spying machine
ever made
and what a laugh,
i mean, look and all the funnies
and those quotes
read them
get hip to some clicktavism

and don't complain on it
just shut up and get off
your face
book

Steve Fly
28/04/2017

Have you seen that vigilante man, on Facebook?

Have you seen that vigilante man? Ry Cooder sings. A familiar tale these days, most but not all hollywood movies feature themes of retribution, 'Death Wish' being a prime example. In fiction, lets not forget, the protagonist is the partner of a murder victim. Fed up with the lack of action on behalf of the law, and action to mean not just arrest and the usual capital punishment but an equal punishment (The Equaliser?). Death in return for death. An eye for an eye and all that which stems from premature judgement.

Facebook (The worlds greatest spying machine) seems to have spawned a new culture of local crime detectives and individuals who play judge, jury and executioner. "Look what this bastard did, lets lynch the fucker, shame him for ever, lets catch him and hang him ourselves." You know what i mean? A new kind of cyber-mob rule with all the trappings of violent retribution. Remember that 'convictions make convicts'

I often see a moral game of trumps playing out, regarding who killed the most people, or who suffered the most, or who really should be arrested and tried. Tried not by the court systems, but by citizens interested in bringing justice and equality to their fellow citizens and humanity as a whole. I would recommend looking at government representatives, lobbyists and corporate CEOs who many of the would be cyber-executioners seem happy to sing praises for, vote for, and invest hard earned money in.

Although i am probably best described as left-liberal leaning, going as far as to label myself a mutualist anarchist on the weekend, this author understands that the process of criminal trials, and our system of courts hold a critical and potentially helpful alternative to lynch mobs, and ‘batman vigilante’ types, solving crimes alone without peer review, and administering due punishment, like most but not all crime solving 'super heroes' of fiction. These are acts of retribution based on a singular point of view. A trial includes at least 13 points of view, if you can temporarily forget about the odd stacked jury and biased (paid off) judge.

I hear you though, I know where your coming from, a lot of criminals have been caught and shamed and punished through the use of social networks, surveillance culture and digital informants. Many, i presume are guilty of the crime they are shown to be committing. It's a double edged sword (word) Based upon the sensibility toward other media, pictures, news reports, video clips and social phenomena, i must stress CAUTION when making 100% identifications in the age of photoshop, Newscorp, Daily Mail readers, and global propaganda warfare.

I truly hope not to sound like I'm telling anybody what to think or not to think, no. I write this to inspire a deeper and closer scrutiny when joining in with a campaign to enact ANY kind of violent retribution for a crime, so explicitly propagated.

The great British philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russel once said that the greatest invention of the 20th century is the human capacity for suspended judgement. "Have you seen that vigilante man, on facebook?"

--Steve Fly Agaric. Jan 27th, 2016

Bristol. UK.

raw360.net

An ark of sympathy in the new dark age of retribution

An ark of sympathy in the new dark age of retribution

(dedicated to all haters, griefers and those full of furious vengence)

I am against capital punishment, against violent punishment without trial, against the wild west mentality of the vigilante, against taking the law into your own hands like the vigilante from the movie Death Wish, or untold other Hollywood tales of going beyond the law to serve up justice. And lets not think too much about the global death wish mentality of many global militant organizations. Stop! 

I could not shoot an animal for sport. Yet, under some circumstances, if armed, i might pull the trigger. Place your fictitious 'what would you do' scenario here [.....]. But, this shoot-to-kill would be a terrifying experience for me and i would regret having to resort to violence, in retrospect. I admit, i may not be able to control myself in some situations, but, situations which i hope i will not have to endure. The opposite feeling to joining the armed forces to fight a war where shooting and bombing to kill are often the drives, both physical and psychological, of the troops.  

To relish and roll in the stench of death, in the idea of killing another human being, for any crime, never mind such crimes that involve no personal physical harm, seem like a gross misconception and example of supreme ignorance, to me. But these values will eternally change depending upon who decides what is right, where they are, when they are, and under what circumstances. Are you in Gaza, or Glasgow, Syria or London, the arguments will rage on and usually the loudest, angriest and rudest voices will rise in a stale society fascinated by such violence, money bling, gossip gobbage, and an eye-for-an-eye mob rule. Gangster gangster all the way.

This revenge strategy feels like a return to the dark ages to me, i can imagine angry mobs visiting suspected criminals in a varying array of scenarios, delivering they're idea of justice with deadly force. No suspended judgement, a clear conscience to kill another human being, or physically injure them, torture, humiliation, public floggings and perhaps a return to public hanging, all this seems good game in the minds of some people. Who knows how many? who cares when its happy hour and the weather is hotter than since records began?

Friends...i am not trying to persuade you that your vicious revenge and willingness to kill, as punishment for various crimes, is wrong. I wish to point out, first of all that violence breeds violence, anybody can see that the classic mafia type of system of revenge just leads to more misery, loss, death and sadness. While governments and corporations wage war on the vulnerable and the poor, we, the people, squabble and in-fight, a microcosm of the problem, greed and physical might against intelligence and rational thought, sympathy, compassion, humanitas, for crying out loud! Secondly, violence is psychically self-defeating, the game of life, the will to life, the meaning in a very general sense is to expand the psyche, to love, explore, perform by example.

How easy and predictable the calls for killing and death to the scumbags, compared with arguments for some kind of life sparing alternative, a trial perhaps, or maybe a willingness to listen to them, sympathetically, to begin communication for rehabilitation? Difficult i know, but achieved by billions of people every day, the masses of the people on planet earth are not killing one another. A small minority of soldiers, terrorists, murderers and their backers, do the killing.

In my limited experience, the majority of thinking humans on earth oppose war, and violence, especially if they have ever been in the thick of it themselves, not just spectating from the safety of the screen world and newspeak culture of sleep induced complicity and hypnotic induced apathy. A desensitization to the suffering and general well being of anybody not them, not their own family and relatively tiny, insignificant social circle. Peace comes of communication, killing stops all possible communication, its the ultimate one way directed manifestation of ignorance, total certainty and inhumane action. I am against killing, against death, against violent mob revenge.

I hope to many of my friends that this seems like restating the obvious, but i have seen an uprising of angry outrage and violent threats toward other people, groups, and nationalities on social networks that blew me away. Unless these people are a surreal league of fuckers just playing around with the language of violent revenge and bloody murder, in a ludicrous synchronized outpouring, i am totally repulsed by this kind of negative vibes and medieval mob mentality.

Yes, we are all getting bombarded with terrible stories and images and cases of violent crimes, abuses against the vulnerable, economic abuses and local crimes, all mixed up in the painstream media, without much balanced guidance and helpful hints and methods for distinguishing the difference between opinions and humanitarian principles. Do you really wish to reenact these violent episodes in your own neighborhoods, villages and cities?

x
Steve fly Pratt

Facestuck by Steven James Pratt (Shrt. Story)

Facestuck by Steven James Pratt (3/08/12)

1.
Oh my god, those faces all literally glued to the screen, right across the planet, literally super-glued to the glass plasma crystal screens, unable to move. Eyes look sideways in terror at the images playing in front of them. Gangs of pixels assemble together in self-organized configurations: the words ‘Cheeky mouthy idiots’ repeated in endless fonts and colours. The images of others also stuck to the screen.

A few brave idiots in the initial panic of finding their face stuck to the screen pulled themselves off, leaving a good part of their face still stuck to the screen like a rare pork chop. Many of these people died as a result of their injuries, and some remained still half stuck to the screen, yet with mutilated mouths and bits of flesh dangling around the chin that made eating exceedingly difficult.  

“Next the phones, engage.” A voice said.

All mobile phones around the world were now stuck to their users face and the ear in particular, plus the original phone call was interrupted with a voice repeating the word ‘yes’. Scenes of equal chaos and horror soon followed, enhanced by the images from any camera relaying live feeds, broadcasting the distressed individuals pain and anguish between the literally billions of victims.

2.
Some proposed the facestuck virus acted upon the carbon 60 molecule, triggered by certain vibrations quickly developing a highly dangerous and sticky surface, impossible to part from organic materials such as skin once contact is made. Grafting, which results in a permanent scar is a necessary process, but due to the Billions of victims many have spent decades with their devices stuck to their faces and ears.

An underground black market arose in cheap surgical procedures and quick fixes for those unable to stand the constant torment, but as you probably expect the quality and hygiene in these black markets are questionable and stories of horrific operations, gone wrong, can be heard far and wide across the planet.

Besides the physical discomfort of having a computer, telephone or god forbid and 25 inch flat screen attached to your noggin, the wish to keep the devices updated and in working order became another challenge to the sanity of any thinking individual. Major manufacturers folded and software became outdated, faults and failures often led to year long waiting lists to be seen, diagnosed and sent to an appropriate country to visit the special ‘update of old O.S centre’. Another harrowing experience I would not wish on my worst enemy.

3.
Ten years after the facestuck virus struck humans from the developed world banned any screens from the immediate environment, reverting back to paper, chalk, ink and books. Screens were reserved for special use while under strict supervision and requiring  more special protective clothing. A resurgence of technophobia followed the outbreak and almost threw the planet into another dark ages when all computers, phones and T.V’s were smashed, manufacturing plants burned to the ground and anybody caught with a screen device punished severely, some already having a screen stuck to their face.

Another version of this story involves a psychological illness that results in people putting screens to their faces voluntarily for extended periods of time, perhaps 8 hours a day, without any knowledge that they are doing this, in effect resulting in self-inflicted facestuck. A horrific and painful condition in reality, yet, inside some deep far out hallucinations, the neuro-chemicals fire to stimulate endorphins that tell us nothing is wrong at all, and anybody alerting others to a case of facestuck are themselves delirious and in need of some psychological treatment and correction. (thankfully provided by your local council). And so the outbreak of intelligent viruses such as facestuck change the nature of disease in that they are not perceived as a disease at all, but instead as a virtuous tool of communication, a phone, a T.V etc.; whereas, beneath the hallucination your physical face remains permanently attached to a screen. So scream.

--Steven James Pratt
(Amsterdam, Java Straat. 3/08/12)