As IF Times

Source: Erica Thomas: Black Georgia lawmaker says she was “verbally attacked” by man who told her to “go back where you came from” – CBS News

Well it’s now the dog days of summer and in the entertainment business, that means re-runs until new programs in the fall.  In some cases, they’ll put on programming that looks similar to entertainment previously run, but a few details are changed to confer originality.

Erica Thomas is the latest installment of  “The Racist Show”, a program which appears to have unlimited longevity.  It’s a bit cheeky since the previous episode in this series has not even finished playing.  The Jussie Smollet episode is still running through the court system, so Thomas is shamelessly trying to steal his limelight.  The plotline is hardly original: A tearful protagonist publicly reveals hurtful actions perpetrated against them by racist antagonists.  Fast forward to the actual facts as the story attracts scrutiny and whaddya know, it’s all fabricated.  There turns out to be no real attack and in fact, the accuser is the perp.

Just as it’s quizzical to see not one, not two but FOUR remakes of A Star Is Born,  the remakes of The Racist Show has played almost non stop for decades.  Some may recall one of the first episodes, the Tawana Brawley one which arguably started the franchise.   That’s the one where a group of white student lacrosse team members, were accused of assaulting her.  Her supporting cast of the likes of Al Sharpton gained stardom from that episode and went on to a successful career  in his own spin-off series, The Race Extorter.

The Racist Show has no shortage of episodes and will likely continue to run well into the future.  Occasionally, the higher profile ones will make it to the public’s attention, but there are numerous other ones that are less widely known.  Campuses are a hotbed for these episodes.  Maybe one day, the public will tire of the same melodrama, but I wouldn’t count on it.  If Star Trek 9, Rocky 14 or Fast and Furious 7 are any indication, we can expect to see endless episodes of The Racist Show.

Source: Meet Facebooks Libra, a digital currency for the social network – CBS News

Hopefully this ‘invention’ will be like New Coke; a product in search of an audience.  As the pervasive creep of the big social media networks is allowed to reach further into our lives, digital currency is apparently the next frontier for them.  It’s all about convenience for the customers they’ll say…what can go wrong?

This is backwards evolution of the financial system.  Over a century ago, many different banks would issue notes that were only fungible at their outlets; others were not accepted. With the passage of time, the nation evolved to create a common coin of the realm so that the currency could be used anywhere in the country.  This was the ultimate form of freedom and democracy since your money was as good as the next guy’s.  Someone could refuse your business but they certainly would not refuse your money.

This concept extrapolated to the credit system as credit cards were able to extend the reach of a consumer society by eliminating the hassle of carrying around bundles of cash.  Cash and its related credit card transactions were agnostic to consumers and vendors.  The rise of the influence of large social media companies introduces a new dynamic to this agnostic system.

As we are aware, corporations now wade boldly into the social justice business, ‘encouraging’ but actually pushing social ‘values’ which they deem to be acceptable.  You practically need a portable spreadsheet to determine which company is pro or against some issue.  Issues such as animal rights, fair trade practices, LGBT issues, environmental concerns, civil rights and of course political leanings now enter into the routine of making a simple  purchase.  It’s now difficult to buy something and not be given a side serving of sanctimony. Hey man, I just want to buy a coffee, I don’t need a lecture on global warming.

Thus far, this PC landscape has been only a minor annoyance as you are still free to do your business while controlling your eye rolls.  The issuance of online currency will move the control of the very many to the hands of a very small few to a whole new level.  Think about it.  If your online presence offends the sensibilities of those that monitor these kinds of things (and they do monitor this stuff), then they could conceivably deny your access to your digital money.  If you’ve said something online which offended  the accepted zeitgeist of the ‘community’, you can be blackballed.

This is not some unwarranted paranoia.  In fact, large banks have already decided to ban businesses that are active in the firearms industry.  If banks, which are quasi utilities can do that, why wouldn’t actual utility companies be able to deny you service because you wanted to buy rib eye steaks and they happened to be PETA supporters?  Why couldn’t they deny you service because you didn’t recycle?  We can easily see the logical extension of big brother monitoring your spending habits based on your on line persona.  Anyone remember the ‘big brother” apple advertisements from the ’80’s?  George Orwell wrote prescient dystopian warning satire during the 1930’s and eerily, the social network behemoths have taken his writings to be operations manuals.

We can never completely stop the emergence of Dr. Evils; unfortunately, it’s a part of human nature.  What people can do however is not willingly submit to the dystopian world they plan for us.  They can reject the social pressure to be a cog in someone’s digital empires.  They can reject the pressure to conform by their unthinking peers.  As in The Matrix films, be Neo, reject the agent Smiths.  Use cash.