Let’s be honest here. Despite how much we enjoy using them, some social networks are really becoming unbearable. They continuously plaster us with ads we really don’t want to see. They are constantly pushing us and pressuring us to spend money on advertising which we cannot afford on our meager incomes. And besides, if the truth be told — I speak from personal experience — most paid advertising does NOT garner us a lot of new, long-term friends or subscribers, or even a large number of new likes or comments for that matter.
My own experience is that, at best, in many cases, paid advertising may provide us with a temporary increase in the number of views, but that is about it. There is no long-term commitment, so what is the point? At the same time, our advertising expenses makes the social network richer. Of course, as many of us already know, the way that they do this is by purposely exploiting our desire to be seen and heard by the world. This is particularly true in the case of evangelically-minded Christians who strongly believe in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We can be such suckers.
But to continue, some social networks are also filled with disgusting, ungodly things — and people — which are an affront to our Christian faith. Sadly, as many of us have already learned, there is very little that we can do about it. Even when the social networks do respond to our complaints — which is rare — it is usually just to inform us that a particular post falls within the parameters of their Terms of Service, and their sharing/posting guidelines, even if we are personally offended by said material.
Now we come to the gist of the matter. Perhaps the thing which irks many Christians the most, is the fact that there seems to be an intentional campaign of discrimination against people who embrace conservative, Christian values. It has become such a huge issue, that it has even been discussed and examined in Washington, D.C. Such was recently the case with Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook.
Speaking again from my personal observations, on a number of occasions now, I have seen my brothers and sisters in the Lord complain that some of their posts, images or comments have mysteriously disappeared, oft times without any explanation whatsoever. Was it due to the inexpertise of the user; or due to a technical glitch in the social network’s system; or was it due to something else?
Some Christians have arrived at the conclusion that these strange disappearances are due to “something else”. They base this conclusion on the fact that when an explanation is offered by the social network, they are usually informed that their post, image or comment was removed because it was contrary to social network policies — or “Community Standards” — in some way. This explanation has been interpreted by some Christians to mean that someone — sometimes a liberal-minded social network staff member — apparently found the post offensive, hateful or discriminatory in some way.
If this is indeed what is really going on, then clearly, a double standard is being practiced by some social networks. In other words, it doesn’t matter that as Christians, we are offended by — and sometimes report — some objectionable things that we see on the social networks. Because some social networks are so liberal, our opinions are of little value to them. Who knows, perhaps they even view us as a nuisance. Thus, they will write off our complaints, and claim that the originator of the post — which we find offensive — is simply exercising their right to free speech.
The hypocrisy lies in the fact that if we dare to strongly express our Christian views, values and beliefs — which are often in opposition to the politically correct social attitudes which prevail on the social networks today — we are given a slap on the wrist, and our content sometimes removed. In short, if we are offended by a particular post, it doesn’t matter. But if someone takes issue with one of our Christian-oriented posts, it requires the attention of the social network, often resulting in us suffering some type of negative consequence.
Given what seems to be going on, it comes as no surprise to me, that more and more, I come across posts where my Christian brethren are becoming quite discouraged, and announcing that they are permanently leaving a particular social network. Why? Because they just can’t handle the unfair bias and discrimination against them. Some of them feel isolated and alone, as if they have been purposely cut off from the rest of the social network, due to their Christian beliefs. While they are given the impression that no one cares about what they think, believe or say — which is what some assume when no one comments on or shares their posts — is it possible that this is by design, and precisely what certain liberal social networks want them to feel, so that they will become discouraged and leave? Good question.
If you find yourself in this position, allow me to ask you something. Are you going to give up the fight so easily? Are you just going to throw in the towel and surrender? Are you going to let them win the battle? Hoping not to seem too cliché, WWJD?
