Log out of Facebook

Social networks are called "Empires of Behavior Modification" by Jaron Lanier. Lanier is one of the most renowned computer scientists, a pioneer in the development of virtual reality, and the author of several books on how the Internet and social networks modify our collective behavior.

'10 reasons why you should delete your social media accounts right now'

This is the title of Lanier's book, released in October 2018. The 10 arguments are listed on the back cover of the book: 1) You are losing your free will; 2) Quitting social media is the surest way to resist the insanity of our times; 3) Social media is turning you into an asshole; 4) Social media undermines the truth; 5) Social media makes what you say meaningless; 6) Social media destroys your capacity for empathy; 7) Social media makes you unhappy; 8) Social media doesn't want you to have economic dignity; 9) Social media makes politics impossible; and 10) Social media hates your soul.

Let's add one more: social media is the means of incitement in hybrid warfare.

hybrid wars

"Hybrid wars are identity conflicts provoked by external agents, who exploit historical, ethnic, religious, socioeconomic, and geographic differences in countries of geopolitical importance through the gradual transition from color revolutions to unconventional warfare, in order to destabilize, control, or influence multipolar infrastructure projects through regime weakening, regime change, or regime reorganization." (LUCENA & LUCENA, 2018).

This is the definition formulated by Andrew Korybko, a journalist at Sputnik News, advisor to the Institute for Strategic Studies and Predictions, and author of the book: Hybrid Wars – From Color Revolutions to Coups, published in 2015.

In an interview given to Eleonora de Lucena and Rodolfo Lucena, Korybko clarifies the role of Facebook and WhatsApp in the coups d'état perpetrated by the USA.

What is the difference between using WhatsApp and Facebook in the context of Hybrid Warfare?

WhatsApp is more instantaneous and impulsive, while Facebook is more organizational and methodical. The former is generally used to send short messages and quickly gather large crowds, while the latter is better suited for deeper organizational planning and long-term crowd control management. They are basically two sides of the same coin, and they go hand in hand when it comes to the tactical aspect of Color Revolutions." (LUCENA & LUCENA, 2018).

Leaving Facebook will also make you happier.

In his most recent statement, Lanier said: "I avoid social media for the same reason I avoid drugs - I feel they can harm me." He then expressed his "concern about the 'psychological' effect of Facebook on young people, especially in shaping adolescent personalities and building relationships." (BBC, 2017).

Lanier's concern is also shared by several psychologists who "have argued for years that the use of Facebook and other social media platforms is linked to mental disorders, especially in adolescents. Others have compared habitual Facebook use to a mental disorder, equating it to drug addiction and even publishing MRI images that supposedly show what Facebook addiction 'causes in the brain'." (CAREY, 2019).

According to the most recent and comprehensive study on the influence of Facebook on the "behavior, thinking, and political attitudes of its monthly active users," conducted by Stanford University and New York University, upon leaving Facebook, "The consequences will be quite immediate: more time spent in person with friends and relatives. Less political information, but also less partisan passion. A slight improvement in daily mood swings and life satisfaction. And, for the average Facebook user, an extra hour of leisure per day." (CAREY, 2019).

Internet of Paradox

The loneliness caused by Facebook is nothing new. "In 1996, a group of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University began a study on the effects of Internet use on the psychological well-being and social engagement of users. (...) they named their results 'Internet Paradox,' reporting that, although the Internet was a social technology, its increased use decreases interaction with family and amplifies loneliness. Yes, it's the maxim of 'It brings those who are far away closer and distances those who are near.'"

(…)

"Facebook and depression are closely linked, according to a series of recent studies. Scientists point to the social comparison that the social network brings. If a friend of yours – or anyone else – appears to be in better living conditions, this ends up affecting your emotional behavior. This is the 'theory of social competition'." (BUMBEERS, 2015).

It's a social competition to see who is the most caricatured and burlesque.

Let us now recall a warning from Ariano Suassuna. Suassuna, on the occasion of the inauguration of the Ministro Mozart Victor Russomano auditorium at the Superior Labor Court, gave a lecture, around 2012, in which he recounts a pathetic conversation he had with a socialite.

According to Ariano, the conversation took place during a dinner held in his honor, one day after his induction into the Brazilian Academy of Letters, therefore in August 1990.

In the video, available on YouTube, Suassuna says he is becoming concerned "about the things that are happening in Brazil" (it should be noted that Ariano's concern dates back to 1990). The immortal then recounts the case of the woman who "divided humanity into two categories of people: those who went to Disney and those who didn't."

The socialite begins the dialogue with Suassuna by asking:

You've been to Disney before, of course, right?
Where have you been?
- To Disney.

That's when I discovered it was Disneyland, that she already had such an intimate relationship with it that she was simply called Disney.
No, I never was...
"He went to the United States and didn't go to Disney?????"
"No, I've never been to the United States, I've never left Brazil."

Then I noticed a huge disappointment on her face. Her expression was one of someone saying: this man shouldn't have been chosen for the Brazilian Academy of Letters... he's never left Brazil...

Then, a little later, her husband mentioned someone there, and she said:
He's been to Disney before, right?
And the husband said, "It was."

Then I thought to myself: This woman divides humanity into two categories: those who went to Disney and those who didn't! And I'm screwed because I didn't go.

She had three children who were already teenagers; at the time they appeared to be 17, 16, and 15 years old.
Did you have any difficulties raising your children?
No... normal difficulties...
- Neither do we! Our problem is this: our children's teachers aren't qualified enough to talk to them...

I said, "Good, she's the mother of Ruy Barbosa, Joaquim Nabuco, and Castro Alves!"
You see how innocent I was, it wasn't about intellectual level, that's none of her business, it was about economic level!
And she said:

- The other day our youngest son came home devastated because he went to talk to his teacher about our imported video 'sound of Boris Volcaine' (sic), and the teacher, Ariano, had never even seen a video called 'sound of Boris Volcaine' (sic)!

Then she said:
Now tell me, what respect can a student have for a teacher who has never even seen a video of Boris Volcaine's sound (sic)?
Then I chickened out, I hadn't been to Disney anyway, and I said:
- And even!

Ariano concludes his critique of Machado de Assis, before an elite of embarrassed smiles, with an accurate prediction:

"We laugh because the story is funny, but what's behind it is a lot of frivolous ideas, a superficial view of the world and of human beings, which is a dangerous thing. Look, Machado de Assis said: in Brazil there are two different countries, the official country and the real country. I interpret, I don't know if forcing Machado's thought a little, that the official country is ours, the country of the privileged, and that the real country is the country of the people. And he said: the real country is good, it reveals the best instincts; but the official country is caricatured and burlesque."

I know he was driven by righteous indignation, and it's not entirely farcical, but if we don't open our eyes, we'll stay like this; if we're not careful; if we don't take into account the truth of the real Brazil, we'll end up like this woman...

We're finished...

References:

BBC. 'I avoid social media for the same reason I avoid drugs,' says the creator of virtual reality. Available at: [link]. Accessed on: February 11, 2019.

BUMBEERS, Fernando. How Facebook changes our social behavior. Available at: [link]. Accessed on: February 11, 2019.

CAREY, Benedict. Planning to leave Facebook? Study points to consequences of disconnection. Available at: [link]. Accessed on: February 11, 2019.

LUCENA, Eleonora de & LUCENA, Rodolfo. External agents provoked a "hybrid war" in Brazil, says writer. Available at: <https://www.brasildefato.com.br/2018/10/19/agentes-externos-provocaram-uma-guerra-hibrida-no-brasil-diz-escritor/>. Accessed on: February 11, 2019.

ELLIPSIS AND THREE DOTS. Ariano Suassuna – Did You Go to Disney? 2014. (05m36s). Available at:. Accessed on: February 12, 2019.