On the morning of October 22nd, a woman named Donna White Savage (yes, seriously, that is her name) left a comment on Donald Trump’s Facebook page. The comment reads: “I pray you have the best debate ever tonight! Please be prepared with the facts of all your accomplishments. Don’t fall into the trap of the moderator. Allow Mr. Biden to expose his illness. Let him speak. Win or lose the debate I am VOTING for you POTUS!! GOD bless you and your family.” What she had to say wasn’t anything particularly noteworthy or unusual. But her name! Her name brought some joy to my day. And because of that name, I couldn’t help but respond. I wrote: “Donna White Savage, your name is the perfect Trump supporter name. Is it made up? White savage, indeed!” She soon replied, saying: “wow!! You people are sick.” So I teased her that white savages have poor math skills, that I am one person. One. I also wished her good luck.
I was taking care of some other things online, but her name continued to tickle me. So after a few moments, I added another comment: “Will the white savages return to the wilds of their trailer parks when their white god Trump loses and goes to prison? Stay tuned, America.” Facebook almost immediately deleted my comment, deeming it hate speech. I’m not kidding.
I had left one other comment on Donna White Savage’s thread: “Do white savages love all rapists or just Donald Trump? Do white savages love all incestuous creeps or just Donald Trump? Do white savages love all racists or just Donald Trump? Do white savages love all cheating scum or just Donald Trump?” Facebook claims this too is hate speech, and informed me I couldn’t post anything on the site for a week because of it.
I have, on one or two occasions, flagged actual hate speech and harassment on Facebook, and received responses that the remarks I flagged did not violate their standards. But this… this somehow does? What are their standards exactly? My comments were a play on the woman’s befitting name. And it is a fact that Donald Trump is a racist, a fact that he cheated on all his wives, a fact that he has an incestuous attitude toward his daughter. And as far as his being a rapist, well, the numerous allegations, including that by a woman who was a child at the time of the incident, are completely credible. But apparently Facebook doesn't care about any of that. Facebook has repeatedly made it clear that it will allow Donald Trump and his worshipers to post whatever rude and inflammatory remarks they wish, but will not allow those who disagree with Trump to do the same. Facebook is a tool of the far right. Mark Zuckerberg, that strange-looking bit of alien excrement (Is that hate speech, Mark?), has a lot to answer for.
There is something else worth noting here. Facebook, as far as I know, doesn’t go around deleting comments on its own accord. Someone has to point out the comment and ask that it be removed. That means that Donna White Savage was so upset by my comments that she complained to Facebook. It is interesting because Trump supporters like to think of themselves as tough people, when in reality they are the whiniest group of children I’ve ever encountered.
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