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If you like those books, let me suggest another thriller writer you’ve probably never heard of: Dick Francis Francis was a champion jockey in England who, after his early retirement, went on to have a stellar career as a novelist, writing over 50 best-selling booksThe last time I saw Mark Zuckerberg was in the summer of 2017, several months before the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke We met at Facebook’s Menlo Park, Calif
, office and drove to his house, in a quiet, leafy neighborhood We spent an hour or two together while his toddler daughter cruised around We talked politics mostly, a little about Facebook, a bit about our families When the shadows grew long, I had to head out
I hugged his wife, Priscilla, and said goodbye to MarkSo, to the people who are tired and just want a break: We are at a point in the history of this nation where we cannot sit idly and let the threads of our democracy unravel Look at your privilege and recognize that you getting to even entertain the idea of “taking a break” is a gift That you do not have to think about and live with the literal, life-or-death implications of the political climate
I am not saying, necessarily, that you need to feel guilty about having this privilege, but recognize that you have it Be grateful that those are not your concerns all the time, that the news is just a headache and not a death sentence And with that awareness, buck up and do something to make a change about the state of affairs in this nation instead of getting lazy and turning off your brain for a whileOne final suggestion: If you used to read novels, but haven’t in a while, consider going back to some of the books you once enjoyed—like Hunger Games or Harry Potter
Re-reading a great story is a little like spending time with old friends you haven’t seen in a whileI recently read a New York Times article entitled “12 Great Stories that Have Nothing to Do With Politics” I read the article almost accidentally; I was hoping for the title to have been click-bait, that I would find waiting for me an article about the reasons that it is silly to deem anything as removed from politics I was hoping that the brilliant, experienced journalists of this esteemed publication would be able to write a simple column about the impossibility of disentanglement of anything from politics
Unfortunately, the title was exactly descriptive of the article’s contents (and sorry to those of you who clicked on the link of the article with the same expectations that I had)While that can be an excellent way to learn new information, it’s not a good way to escape Non-fiction is grounded in this world, whereas fiction transports us into another world, one of our imagination THAT’S escape
Rob Jenkins is a Higher Education Fellow with Campus Reform and a tenured associate professor of English at Georgia State University - Perimeter College In a career spanning more than three decades at five different institutions, he has served as a head men’s basketball coach, an athletic director, a department chair, and an academic dean, as well as a faculty member Jenkins’ opinions are his own and do not represent those of his employertranscriptI Co-Founded Facebook
It’s Time to Break It UpChris Hughes, a co-founder of Facebook, says the company is so big and powerful that it threatens our democracyThis is me back in my college days And this is my roommate, Mark
Together, we founded Facebook in 2004 Now, 15 years later, I think Facebook has grown too big and too powerful Every week brings new headlines about privacy violations, election interference or mental health concerns I haven’t been at the company in over a decade, but I feel a sense of responsibility to account for the damage done
Americans have the power to right the ship through government action We need new regulations It’s time to break up Facebook The early days of Facebook tell a classic American story of innovation and entrepreneurship
From our college dorm room, we started a little social network for our friends that exploded in popularity and connected the world Mark’s hustle in those early years made it possible for Facebook to dominate our rivals like Friendster, MySpace, Tumblr and many others These competitors made us better And then we beat them out
This is how it’s supposed to work in America Hard work leads to economic success You start a small business and compete on the merits to provide a better product Today, nearly three billion people use Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, and they’re all owned and controlled by the same company
Of every dollar spent buying ads on social media, $084 goes to Facebook It’s now worth over half a trillion dollars That’s roughly the size of the G
DP of the bottom 65 countries in the world — combined It’s not just that Facebook is a really big social network
It’s everything When a single company dominates any market, they become susceptible to abusing their power Social networking is like most other American industries There used to be plenty of healthy competition
But now many industries are controlled by just one or two companies Companies often create an illusion of choice You think there are hundreds of beer brands out there, but they’re all made by one or two companies Why is this a problem? Well, when companies get too big, they get sloppy and careless, and that leads to things like poor privacy practices, enabling foreign actors to meddle in elections, the spread of violent rhetoric, fake news and the unbounded drive to capture more of our data and attention
I often hear people say, “I’m shutting down my Facebook account Thank God for Instagram,” not realizing that Instagram is owned by Facebook People are powerless in this situation because there’s nowhere else to go Monopolies stifle innovation
Facebook snatches up competitors by buying them before they get too big Or, by copying their innovations Despite all the money and hype being poured into new startups, there hasn’t been a single major social media platform launched since 2011 The harm goes beyond he economy though, it goes to democracy itself
When companies become empires, people are stripped of power Facebook’s employees write complex rules called algorithms that decide what you see in your News Feed Facebook can decide what messages get delivered and which don’t And what exactly makes for violent or inappropriate content
Even Mark himself has said that he and the Facebook team have too much power over speech Facebook does have a board of directors But Mark owns the majority of the shares Unlike the leader of a democracy there are no checks and balances on Facebook
Mark has no boss, and he cannot be fired Listen, it’d be great if Mark can fix this himself But this, ironically, is a problem he cannot solve We need the government to intervene with two steps
First, the Facebook empire needs to be broken up America’s regulated corporate empires before, and we can do it again This isn’t unprecedented and surprisingly, it often boosts the value of these companies in the long run The Federal Trade Commission can force Facebook to unwind its acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram
Then we’ll see real competition around social media and digital messaging Breaking up Facebook isn’t a punishment for its economic success It’s a way to guarantee that other new companies can compete We also need a new government agency to protect Americans from the overreach of Facebook and other companies like it
Think about it We don’t trust airlines or pharmaceutical companies to regulate themselves We shouldn’t trust social media companies either We need basic privacy protections and the ability for people to move their data around as they please
Right now Facebook makes free speech decisions on its own with little accountability Instead, we need government to set guidelines, not Facebook employees in Menlo Park I don’t think Mark’s a bad guy and I’ve made this decision to speak out because I feel a sense of responsibility for what Facebook has become And to be honest, I’m angry that Mark’s obsession with growth led him to sacrifice security for clicks
Facebook does have a board of directors. But Mark owns the majority of the shares. Unlike the leader of a democracy there are no checks and balances on Facebook. Mark has no boss, and he cannot be fired. Listen, it’d be great if Mark can fix this himself. But this, ironically, is a problem he cannot solve. We need the government to intervene with two steps. First, the Facebook empire needs to be broken up. America’s regulated corporate empires before, and we can do it again. This isn’t unprecedented and surprisingly, it often boosts the value of these companies in the long run. The Federal Trade Commission can force Facebook to unwind its acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram. Then we’ll see real competition around social media and digital messaging. Breaking up Facebook isn’t a punishment for its economic success. It’s a way to guarantee that other new companies can compete. We also need a new government agency to protect Americans from the overreach of Facebook and other companies like it. Think about it. We don’t trust airlines or pharmaceutical companies to regulate themselves. We shouldn’t trust social media companies either. We need basic privacy protections and the ability for people to move their data around as they please. Right now Facebook makes free speech decisions on its own with little accountability. Instead, we need government to set guidelines, not Facebook employees in Menlo Park. I don’t think Mark’s a bad guy and I’ve made this decision to speak out because I feel a sense of responsibility for what Facebook has become. And to be honest, I’m angry that Mark’s obsession with growth led him to sacrifice security for clicks. I think we all want to live in a country where David can take on Goliath, where a kid with a smart idea in a dorm room can start a billion- dollar company. We’ve strayed from that ideal, and breaking up and regulating Facebook will help put us back on that path.
