Today is the first “None of the Above”–yes, I finally get to use my favorite title!–a new weekly show with former prosecutor, and author, James Stevens Valliant. (His most recent book is Creating Christ: How Roman Emperors Invented Christianity, co-authored with Warren Fahy.) I had thought we’d just do a warm-up show today, light on news and politics, but some of what’s going on simply can’t be ignored, so see Program Notes, below, for stories, etc., we plan to tackle today.
My Ayn Rand Bot page on Facebook was “unpublished” for six days. I don’t have all the details, but I’ll tell Yaron what I know and we’ll discuss how to evaluate Facebook, given that experience. Other stories challenge us to flex our objectivity muscles, too. See Program Notes, below, for all the stories, etc., we plan to discuss.
In n-dimensional chess—in which n is far above my capacity to understand—this is one small step for bipartisanship, one giant step toward laissez-faire capitalism. https://t.co/kqZg0AN8ZI
— Amy "Unacceptable" Peikoff 🍁🚛 (@AmyPeikoff) July 23, 2019
Sorry, “sigh” just reflects my mood, six days after I discovered my Ayn Rand Bot page on Facebook had been unpublished, and reported it. No word back, still, and the page remains unpublished. It should go without saying that I remain an opponent of government regulation of social media…
…but this is very disappointing. Feel free to report the problem to Facebook (using the option under their “?” help menu), so maybe an intelligent, thinking human being can address the issue soon. In my view, they’re just taking on too broad a scope with their “Community Standards,” and can’t possibly enforce them consistently or sustainably. And the Bot is just some collateral damage.
UPDATE: The publishing restriction on the page was just lifted by Facebook! Yay! I’m still waiting to hear exactly why it was unpublished, but my guess is still along the lines of what I said, above.
Second thing: I get to do two shows with Yaron Brook this month, one tomorrow (July 23) and one next week (July 30). I’ll post program notes, etc., for each show on the day of. Tomorrow’s show will be 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT), broadcast live on Yaron’s YouTube channel, Facebook page, etc., per usual.
Third: This Wednesday I’ll be starting a new weekly show with James Valliant, co-author of Creating Christ, whom I’ve interviewed on my show. (He also used to call in.) We’re calling it…None of the Above! The plan is to broadcast each Wednesday, 2 p.m. ET (11 a.m. PT). Again, I’ll post some program notes, etc., closer to showtime. But feel free to like our Facebook page in the meantime.
Given the trouble I’ve had with Facebook in the past week, I urge you to subscribe here at my blog, if you don’t already. Email subscription would be best, in case we have to go “back” to email lists, in some kind of post-social-media world. Really hoping Facebook resolves this, though! (See option to subscribe in the margin to the right.)
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