Write about it Now and Regret it Later

A while back I wrote a piece about fake news called, “Fake News and Social Media.” The inspiration for the article wasn’t anything being reported on any of the network news or news network programs although the issue that inspired my piece was, finally, being reported on these news mediums. Let me clarify what it is I’m talking about specifically. You see, while scrolling through my Google+ feed, I saw a comment posted by someone whom I don’t really know. I don’t, even, recall exactly what it was that this person had written and posted. All I remember is that I disagreed with whatever it was that this person had posted so I “replied” to the post with my own commentary and views about what I thought regarding their comments.

This person (again, whom I didn’t know then nor do I know now) had “followed” me, but I don’t recall (actually) returning the favor and “following” them. I’m not saying that it’s not possible that I did so because I used to follow people who followed me when I, initially, set up my Google+ profile, which I was prompted to do when I created my Gmail account. At any rate, the “why’s” and “how’s” are irrelevant. The only thing that is relevant is the fact that I do not know who this person is or is not within the real or cyber world. In fact, I don’t (even) recall the name of the person I’m referring to and there’s no way for me to go back and attempt to find the person’s name because I wound up blocking them because I believed that the individual wasn’t “real” – meaning, I believed that the profile and name created by whomever created it was fake. Keep in mind, all of this took place prior to what is now being reported by the legitimate news outlets regarding Russia-gate and the more than 1,000 Russian paid, internet trolls pushing propaganda/fake news.

I should mention that I have the ability to check stats for all of my blogs. Within the content of those stats is the country/countries viewing my blog. Next to the United States, Russia is the country with the second highest number of visitors. After Russia it varies a lot. But, along with many in Western Europe (I love you Europe), I have many Eastern European visitors. So – since my Google+ account automatically posts every article I write for “The New World Disorder” and every poem or article I write for “Are You Serious?” it makes sense that Russian paid trolls would have targeted me.

Now, back to the point of what unfolded as a result of my response to this person’s comment. When I made whatever comment I made in response to whatever this person (whom I believed, at the time, was a “made-up/fictional profile”) posted she (I don’t remember her name, but I do remember it was a female profile) replied with the most bizarre thing I had ever heard in my life. Though I don’t recall what she said at the beginning of her response I, do, remember her wild allegations about (then) candidate Hillary Clinton running a human trafficking organization out of a pizzeria and referred to this so-called scandal as “Pizza-gate.” Keep in mind, this is before the mainstream media/legitimate news organizations were reporting about “Pizza-gate” because this online exchange occurred prior to when the gun-wielding man entered that pizzeria intending to “take down the bad guys.” That incident, of course, led to a follow-up report with the man who fabricated that fake news story that earned him something like $8,000 (if memory serves me correctly).

I wish I had done some digging on the same day that the, literally, unbelievable slew of bull shit was given to me during that online back and forth with a person I was (immediately) told by my intuition wasn’t real (meaning, she – who was likely a “he” – was a fabricated profile/person). I don’t know that there would have been any, actual, facts about the Pizza-gate scandal at that time since the story hadn’t been investigated properly until the man with the gun entered the restaurant seeking justice. As a side note, the fact that someone who was gullible enough to believe such an obvious fabrication is able to own a gun should be added to the many other equally disturbing facts supporting the need to reform gun legislation. I’m not saying we should do away with the right to bear arms. I’m just saying that we need to enforce the laws that are already in place as well as make some additions such as “mental health screening” and (in light of this situation and others, which are similar) the need for IQ testing.

Anyway, it seems as if things happen to me or that I’m privy to prior to those exact things being reported or receiving attention by other, much more influential sources in a prodigious way. Just before the man with a gun goes into the pizzeria – an insane, fictional person tries to sell me on Pizza-gate and a search engine that I should use rather than Google (or other search engines that produce factual, research type results) called “GoodGopher” dot com (I don’t want to enter in an actual link). Then, because of the close call that could have resulted in many, innocent people being killed by the gun-toting man, the story breaks about writers being paid to fabricate and publish (online) stories then pass them off as legitimate news. When that story broke and was televised by MSNBC I, then, wrote my piece about fake news (mentioned in the opening line above). But, it wasn’t until very recently that the reality of internet trolls pushing these fake news stories via social networking sites became public or known widely (if you’ve read my “Fake News and Social Media” article you’ll know why I don’t like to say, “social media”).

When I write anything (and I, do, mean anything) nowadays I tweet out the link to whatever article I’ve written. It’s not to bring myself any notoriety. It’s not, even, to generate ad revenue from my blog. Because, believe me, although I have ads on two of my blogs the total revenue earned from both sites is $1.27 and that is from my other blog “Are You Serious?” That blog began running ads in 2013. So, in four years’ time, the total revenue generated is $1.27 and that money is held, without being deposited into the blogger’s bank account, until there’s a minimum of one hundred dollars. That means, although I’ve earned a whopping one dollar and twenty-seven cents in four years’ time, I will most likely be dead by the time I’ve earned enough money ($100) to actually be paid.

So, my point is that my linking everything I write into my tweets is done to bring attention to things that may, otherwise, go unnoticed or to bring a different perspective to an issue that’s already being discussed or reported by the legitimate news outlets. If anyone’s ever paid any attention to the links I put out in tweets they will notice that my first tweeted link is addressed to @msnbc with additional recipients, usually, being @maddow, @chucktodd and @billmaher. In some cases I’ve included @realdonaldtrump, but (usually) when I send him anything it isn’t an article I’ve written because there are way, too many facts for him to believe. Usually, when tweeting the so-called president, I just send him an insult like the one a few weeks ago (after hearing how much money he’s been spending to go to Florida every weekend). I tweeted him a note that said something along the lines of, “How can you go golfing in FL every weekend while gutting programs for the poor/needy? You entitled prick!” The last line was verbatim, but the first may have been – I’m not sure, but it was the gist of what I said.

That’s all for now. I just felt I should “put it out there” all of the things that have happened with which I’ve been aware prior to those things being “put out there” for the multitudes of people that are now aware because of those things being put out there. From now on, as soon as I get a whiff of any hidden stench or my gut (intuition) tells me that something’s not right – I will be sure to write about it first and be glad about it (or regret it) later.