raving lunacy - oxymorons for the 21st century

At the end of the US Civil War, plantation owners needed folks to work the fields since they could no longer own the workers . Something to do with taking the words “all men are created Equal” seriously.

Enter Sharecropping. Wikipedia brings this cogent description:

“Sharecrop farmers were loaned a plot of land to work, and in exchange owed the owner a share of the crop at the end of the season. Often the plantation owner’s share was 1/3, though sometime it was much higher. The sharecropper was required to purchase seed, tools and fertilizer, as well as food and clothing, on credit at the plantation store. When the harvest came, the sharecrop farmer would harvest the whole crop and sell his or her portion to the planter at a fixed price. By the time all the debts owed and proceeds made were tallied up the farmer was lucky to break even. The planter set the price of the crop, and all the books were kept and tallied by the planter, such that there was plenty of opportunity to fudge the books, guaranteeing that the sharecropper never made any profit.”

Sharecropping has returned with a vengeance on the web.

The latest entry in the ‘Social Network’ Emerald City Sharecropper Network is Facebook. The new darling of the blah-listers, social climbers, and kewl kid wannabe’s.

People flock to these things like the little kid in the room shoveling horseshit, and exclaiming, “There HAS to be a PONY Here!!”

Sorry boys and girls, No Pony.
It is just another virtual room filled with user generated content masquerading as a Social Network . They place ads around your stuff, and deliver eyeballs to advertisers in the electronic version of valpack coupons and junk mail.

Britt Blasser at Escapable Logic sums up Social Networking nicely:

Builders of social networking sites are rarely social or networkers. At best, they build tools slightly informed by the traits of their parents most successful friends.

Social networking web sites are not designed for the magic that real-world networkers call networking. They are a collection of ad hoc tools based on what seems to build traffic at the current social networking site du jour.

None of these sites are created for the people. Three Card Monte, Multi Level Marketing, Ponzi Schemes have nothing on these deals. These are, to the last picture, file, and pixel solely created as businesses to make money for the plantation owners.

Here is what the plantation owners are making off your sorry asses

So boys and girls, you get to work for Facebook for nothing, getting all your equipment from Facebook, doing only those things the plantation owner allows, and at the end of the day, not even sharing in the wealth.

When you step back you may realize that your ‘network’ consists of folks who are clones of yourself, delivered to advertisers, whose sole purpose is to sell your stuff. It is an electronic roach motel.

If you happen to come to your senses and want to get out of Facebook, you will need to read Steve Mansour’s journey.

Remember the Wizard of Oz movie when Dorthy pulled the curtain back? Some old guy pulling levers and spouting nonsense.