Tuesday, July 02, 2013

Conservatives must not have fun


Anyone familiar with the work of Fox News Radio’s Todd Starnes would recognize the inspiration behind the thoughts that he recently posted on Facebook. They’re steeped in the events of recent weeks and express contempt for certain currents of opinion:

    “I’m about as politically incorrect as you can get. I’m wearing an NRA ball cap, eating a Chick-fil-A sandwich, reading a Paula Deen cookbook and sipping a 20-ounce sweet tea while sitting in my Cracker Barrel rocking chair with the Gather Vocal Band singing ‘Jesus Saves’ on the stereo and a Gideon’s Bible in my pocket. Yes sir, I’m politically incorrect and happy as a June bug.”

According to Fox News Insider, that message got Starnes banned from Facebook. The site sent him this message: “We removed this from Facebook because it violates our Community Standards. So you’re temporarily blocked from using this feature.” A Facebook spokeswoman confirmed the blocking.

Those “Community Standards” are found right here. They outline 10 no-no areas for Facebook users: violence and threats, self-harm, bullying and harassment, hate speech, graphic content, nudity and pornography, identity and privacy, intellectual property, phishing and spam and security.

Unless Facebook covertly added another category — say, “conservative defiance” — The Erik Wemple Blog cannot ascertain which particular rule Starnes’s post defied. After all, the commentator didn’t say that he was sitting “naked in my Cracker Barrel rocking chair,” complete with photograph of the scene. That would have violated the “nudity and pornography” prohibition. Nor did Starnes publish secret Chick-fil-A recipes, which could have put him in contravention of the “intellectual property” provision. And hey, if his post looked like “hate speech,” well then our national dialogue is far less courteous than we thought.

And later, after further review, Facebook realized it overstepped. From a Facebook spokeswoman:

    “As our team processes hundreds of thousands of reports each week, we occasionally make a mistake. In this case, we mistakenly removed content from the Todd Starnes Page, and worked to rectify the mistake as soon as we were notified. We apologize for the inconvenience caused due to the removal of this content, and we have already taken steps to prevent this from happening in the future. Additionally, we have removed any blocks on associated accounts.”

Source


16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wanna hear a joke? TODD STARNES

Brian from Rochester NY said...

Hey, 12:39,

That's really hitting the nail on the head! You're argument regarding the way media and Facebook overstep themselves when trying to silence the voices they don't agree with really changed my life...

Oh, wait. That's right. You were the one who had nothing cogent to say so you insulted Todd instead of offering a valid reason for censoring text that was offensive to no-one but those with no tolerance for conservatives.

Carry on

Anonymous said...

The funniest part of this story is the absurd notion that facebook has "community standards"! It's almost as funny as watching the endless trouble it causes to the mindless fools who use it.

Anonymous said...

Of course they "occasionally" make mistakes;). Just kind of strange that it's almost always on conservatives.

Anonymous said...

Facebook community standards. Now that's an oxymoron if I ever heard one.

Anonymous said...

Brian,

Have you ever read the crap he writes on foxnews.com? It sickens me.

Anonymous said...


There's a simple reason Facebook has these problems on occasion and why they almost always target conservative people.

It is not that Facebook is deliberately targeting conservatives, it is instead the haters known as the Left who are inundating Facebook and other sites with baseless complaints about conservatives all the time.

Occasionally one of their complaints gets past their checks as the result of sloppiness/weariness by the reviewer who has to deal with such complaints all day.

The reason it mainly happens to conservatives because the left is full of and welcoming to whining complainers where as the right has few because we expect people to stand on their own feet.

Anonymous said...

Anon 3:45 - What specifically sickens you about his writing? The subjects he picks? His style of reporting?

Or are you just another irrational hater?

Anonymous said...

His subject matter and extreme religious right wing opinions.

Brian from Rochester NY said...

Anonymous 3:45,

What sickens me is the religious persecution going on in the military that no-one else seems to care about.

What sickens me is the students who have their futures threatened because they 'dare' to speak of their faith.

Todd is one of the few people who bring such abuses into the light of day.

Now if you can show me proof positive that Evangelical Christians, Catholics and Mormons are on par with Al-Quaeda as religious extremist, then do so.

Yes, these are the categories that the military were told to look out for. I'm still waiting for this to make the national news on the alphabet networks.

So, yes, I read his articles and they are not crap. They are happening now and if you choose not to accept this, then fine. I'm done her.

Anonymous said...

Annon 3:27, sounds like Facebook is employing some moonlighting IRS employees.

Anonymous said...

"Just kind of strange that it's almost always on conservatives."

Not strange at all. Conservatives are a whiny lot and complain about any perceived "persecution"

Anonymous said...

Hey Doofus 5:58, for the latest on "perceived" persecution refer to the photos of the beheaded priest in Syria. Beheaded by the wonderful, freedom loving rebels Obama so loves to support and arm. Not a peep out of The One on this. Not even an half hearted statement that they "were acting stupidly." Why not? If you don't already know the answer, you're just being willfully ignorant.

Anonymous said...

Anon 7:38 - What a clever, clever boy you are. Do you ever observe reality? What color is the sky in Dooftopia?

Back in the real world, real people die due to the failure of the "leaders" so you worship to perceive the world as it is, not as they wish it to be. Not that what they're wishing for is anything to brag about. Just more socialist crap for them asses, while they live the life of the uber-capitalists they pretend to despise.

Now go back to your comic books and have a cookie on me. If you try realy, realy hard, maybe you can hurt my feelings. Nah, you don't have the intellectual firepower to buy a clue, much less engage in any sort of knowledge based discussion. You're more of a poo flinger, than a knowledge bringer.

Anonymous said...

You proved my point.

Anonymous said...

Hello. I apologize for posts 12:39, 3:45, 4:37, 5:58, 7:38, and 10:07. I was wrong to say what I did. I am sorry. I will not comment here after this post.