July 4, 2011 and Mass Mind Control

There are still fires on the Arizona/Mexican boarder, members of the Food Not Bombs organization  were arrested during a community feeding in Orlando, Florida, and in Las Vegas 60% of homes have been foreclosed on. Today is a day where most Americans are either throwing a party or attending one. Many will spend time with friends and family and watch fireworks, either on TV or in person. As I sit in Revolutionary Grounds Coffeehouse and Bookstore in the hot, hot, hot city of Tuscan, Arizona (by the way, Tuscan, Bisbee, and Flagstaff are the little blue pockets in the great big red state of Arizona) I start to think about the reason for celebration.

Today marks the 235th anniversary of the constitution. What does that mean? Barbecues? Beer? Isn't this a day that could be better spent mobilizing? Of course not, on top of all the thousands of distractions and gimmicks of American consumer culture (not to mention the indoctrinated way of celebrating American independence) lays a major player: Facebook.

This is one theory I have yet to discuss in this blog or in the film: Facebook's equivalency to Hollywood and the rise of the platform in a time of crisis.

Hollywood reached its Golden Age in The Great Depression of the 1920s. Instead of mass rioting, unemployed and depressed persons saved their nickels and dimes for a picture show at a local cinema to help them forget about their problems for a few hours. This is understandable, sure, we all need entertainment and distraction. The danger comes when this distraction overpowers the problems that are creating the need for distraction in the first place. Today, Hollywood, despite the consumer's ability to download and/or pirate a movie rather easily, is still near the top of the America food chain, and will only be overshadowed by America's next top player: Facebook (enterprise).

Enter 2011: A time where unemployment is at 9.1% (roughly half of the unemployment in the Great Depression) and homes continue to be foreclosed on (last year 11% of home sales in Texas were from foreclosures) what is there to celebrate? Why aren't we rioting in the street? The answer may lay in that small device you keep on in your pocket.

Facebook is the new Hollywood. Just as distracting, addicting, and consuming, except that an iphone or Android is portable whereas a Hollywood movie (aside form watching it on said device) is not. I could have named this article "The Fourth of July: We're All Being Duped!" or "The Fourth of July Riots!" But the sad truth is a lot of people don't mind being duped and have no desire to riot. Generally, we're happy to accept our new toys with a privilege and arrogance common to Americans.

It is true, however, that Facebook has been a tool for mobilization, but more so in other countries than in the US where it was created. Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook, is now richer than the founders of Google, and all that revenue is in the advertising. People, especially those who run businesses, like to tell me that they use it because it's free, monetarily free maybe, but the use and participation in Facebook comes at a personal price as seen in targeted advertising. Still, most people are under the assumption that Facebook is a free network of communication, aside from the dangers I've listed so far, online communication seems to be replacing offline communication. A friend of mine who I was conversing with the other day pulled out his phone while we were talking. I made a comment and he said, "But you're smoking a cigarette. You're doing something while we're talking. It's the same thing." This brought a lot of my research in the last few months home: people have gotten so accustomed to a portable internet device, and the constant "news feed" of Facebook that reading something online is now comparable with smoking a cigarette. True, both substances can kill you in different ways, and also true that both substances can create physical and mental barriers between people. The most interesting insight to be gained from this moment came when speaking with Joy, owner of Revolutionary Grounds, when it became obvious that I have been smoking so long that I am unaware of the effects, I guess the same goes for the miniature computer, especially to those growing up with it.

Lastly, Facebook maintains and perpetuates the myths of the American Dream by promoting the ability to descend into a narcissistic, self-involved, and apathetic world where concern is placed on oneself and ones "loved ones" (which, as computer technologist Jaron Lanier points out in his 'circle of empathy ' theory, may also include a computer). Naturally, this does not apply to everyone, but checking your Facebook every minute or so, even when in conversation with another person (a real person) is not only rude, but scary: why are Americans more eager to engage in an online world than an offline one? Why do we want constant communication anyway, especially when most of our discussions revolve around the mundane and only reach so far as our Facebook"friends?"  Why aren't we rioting for our jobs back? Why are we still letting big cat, CEO's take our money? Why are we giving the top 1% of Americans the little we've got left? America, we've been doped and I will not celebrate this Fourth of July when there is still so much more work to be done.