But in the wake of the terrible events in Arizona, with many commentators pointing out the obvious fact that Gabrielle Giffords had been targetted by Palin in the November election on a map that used a chilling gun site graphic, I thought it would be worth watching her page for a little while to see if her team were indeed deleting negative comments routinely. But I had no idea how incredibly, almost comically, efficient her people would turn out to be in deleting comments that were even slightly critical of the former Governor. And then I came across... well, what I guess you'd have to politely call an appalling example of editorial misjudgement at best.
Here's what I found, from a brief sample achieved by the simple expedient of hitting the refresh button repeatedly over a short period of time:
A negative comment saying, "YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE, YOU EVIL WITCH" - at 17:19PM. (I'm in London, so that's British Standard Time.)
Was removed by 17:28 (although I failed to capture a screen grab - oops).
A comment that simple says, "hypocrite" - presumably in reference to Palin at 17:28
Gone by 17:29.
OK. At this point, I am finding this all kind of... well, funny I suppose. I mean, the ruthless efficiency of the deleting and the desperation with which people would try to get their negative comments up there combined with the efficiency of their removal. There were actually a lot more examples than what I've been able to show here.
And in fairness to Sarah Palin, I should say that there were a couple of comments that were removed that weren't directly critical of the Governor but clearly offensive. Most notably, a commenter who repeatedly posted, "To bad it wasn't Pelosi." Yikes.
But then things got a little... well, upsetting.
A commenter posted the following at 18:12:
"It's ok. Christina Taylor Green was probably going to end up a left wing bleeding heart liberal anyway. Hey, as 'they' say, what would you do if you had the chance to kill Hitler as a kid? Exactly."
I think I literally gasped when I read that. Remember, Christina Taylor Green was the 9 year old girl killed by the shooter. Apparently she had been brought there by her mom, who thought she might get a kick out of meeting Rep. Giffords, having recently been elected to her student council.
I assumed, as a matter of course, that this particular comment would be deleted with greatest possible speed.
So I kept hitting refresh, hoping to use this as an example to say, "You see, Palin's Facebook editing at least has the good judgement to remove clearly offensive content such as this." But it didn't come down.
By this point I thought it was likely that the staff person monitoring the page was simply no longer working - I mean, fair enough it's a Sunday, right? So I thought I would just satisfy myself that the page was no longer being edited by continuing to look for negative comments, assuming that either they would all remain live for the time being, or if the editor came back to work, that they would be removed simultaneously with the Christina post.
So here's a comment posted at 18:16 saying, "I hope you're happy now. It's because of the influence that you do wield, that you should think about things you say and do."
So then I thought, well maybe the page editors just haven't seen it. We all make mistakes, perhaps it just slipped by them.
Then I spotted another commenter, rightly expressing her disgust at the post. "You are so out of touch... Show a little consideration and leave innocent out of your twisted diatribe."
Having been alerted to the post, does the editor NOW remove it? Nope, it's still there.
And I spot several other posts being removed. For instance, here's a post from 18:28 saying, "Your type of sorrow doesn't make up for the blood on your hands."
Gone by 18:29.
I found a few more instances, but I won't belabour the point. The Christina post was still live at 16:39 when I started writing this post.
I don't really know what to make of this. Sarah Palin has the right to edit her Facebook profile - it's not technically a public platform, it's a privately owned space. But the fact someone has a right to do something doesn't mean it is always a good idea, and I think that someone who aspires to public office has an especially strong responsibility to try and engage with the public at large - not just those who agree with them. But still... she's not currently in any form of elected office and she can do what she likes.
But I find her team's editorial judgement to say the least... odd.
UPDATE: Since this blog was posted, there has been a lot of media attention paid to it and a lot of online discussion. If anyone wants to discuss the article with me, the best way to reach me is on Twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/karinjr
UPDATE II: Here's what happened when I conducted the same exercise to look at Barack Obama's facebook page: Totally Straightforward Edits on Barack Obama's Facebook Page
491 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 401 – 491 of 491I became a FB "fan" of Palin a long time ago in order to post there. You cannot post on her page unless you are a fan. Not only does your post get deleted, if you are critical of Sarah, you are immediatly "un-friended" so you can no longer post there. She and her staff do not tolerate any form of criticism.
The moderator probably didn't know the child's name, saw it said something about Hitler that wasn't referencing Sarah Palin and A-OK'ed it.
There are at least 14 administrator's on Sarah Palin's Facebook page, including herself: http://goo.gl/BTYj7
But of course to a liberal, this whole sad mess is a perfect opportunity to sling mud. It would be shocking except nothing coming from the left is shocking any more, they are willing to equivocate anything, even the death of an innocent child by an insane stalker.
The killer had a grudge against his prey for three years, long before Mrs. Palin was a candidate.
I only read the first 20 or so comments I could see. I would just like to point out that "flagging" a comment does NOT delete it. It only puts it on a list that Facebook moderators will check at some point, to evaluate whether or not it violates their terms of service. They wouldn't delete critical but non-abusive comment (and often don't even remove ones I consider offensive).
I am glad some people said the comment about the girl was satirical. Normally I'm pretty good at picking up on that sort of thing, but I didn't here. Maybe I was too shocked by it, maybe I'm too used to hearing offensive things jokingly, but half-serious.
Anonymous, the misstatement was that Christina Taylor Green went to the event with her Mom, not her MAN as you state. Pretty minor mistake between the mom and neighbor...why are you throwing in man?? If you are going to be hateful about the mistakes of others you damn well better not make any yourself:-P
A registered Democrat goes beserk and shoots at a Democratic rally and it is blamed on Sarah Palin as if she had anything to do with it at all.
Never mind that the evidence shows that he had contact and held a grudge agains Giffords since 2007 long before Palin showed up on the Nat'l scene and years before there was a Tea Party rally.
Besides the map was similiar to one used by the Democratic Party:
2004 DLC Map with "bulleyes over Republicans"
http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=253055&kaid=127&subid=171
So are we to assume because that horrid comment wasn't taken down that proves that Sarah Palin, herself, would approve of it?? I don't know of anyone that would want that comment there.
And there is far more hate and disgusting inciting of violence toward Palin and Tea Partiers ...just read all these comments...if Giffords was Republicans and there was evidence that Maddox or Chris Matthews had directly themselves said she should die ...not one word would be made of it...nor would they shut down Congress and mourn for days...No this is a horrible tragedy and I don't know anyone that does not like most all of the Blue dog Dems that are in Congress ...that is why they are there because the people in Red districts love them.
So take your hate you left leaning looneys somewhere else. You may not like Sarah Palin but she is the mother of some wonderful kids and loved by all her family...Now stop your hatred until some lunatic get incited to hurt one of them...
You probably wouldn't even hear of it on the main stream media...or you would say she deserved it...
Double standard is all that all of you are about. You can dish it out but you will not stand for someone not agreeing with you.
The weak attempt to portray the alleged assailant as an unaffiliated loner is nonsensical.
Years of screeching out hate and promoting violence have spawned and nurtured thousands of potential mindless minions.
It is called demagoguery and the puppetmasters practice it on a whole horde of followers knowing they will hook a few to do their bidding while they remain aloof.
"If not this fool, then the next will do. There's a million more where that one came from" is what they say and what they count on. This is an old, old trick. They are not fooling us, but, yes, they are scaring us.
We don't like it. And we will won't stand for it.
"So are we to assume because that horrid comment wasn't taken down that proves that Sarah Palin, herself, would approve of it?? I don't know of anyone that would want that comment there."
Way to miss the point of the EVIDENCE doofus.....THEY LEFT IT THERE, how you feel and what you 'know' are irrelevant. Damn these people are disconnected from facts.
".Now stop your hatred until some lunatic get incited to hurt one of them..."
Hilarious ! And disgusting at the same time. People have DIED and Sarah's people allow a nasty joke about it on her page, and you're all worried that it's 'our' hatred which will incite someone !?!?
Psychological short-circuiting Glenn Beck would be proud of !
Here's hoping you and Sarah learn to think more clearly before anything comes home to roost.....
Palin is not directly responsible for this tragedy. That's not the point. However, at a moment when we are feeling the need to reevaluate the violence and rage of our national discourse, she has made herself the symbol of this rage.
It doesn't matter all that much if the shooter was a tea partier. We've all encountered tea partiers on the web who talk about this kind of violence, and what they're saying in the YouTube comments dovetails quite nicely with this kind of rhetoric from the Palins and the Michael Savages of the world. This is not the first time its happened that someone has become violent. Usually, they've been able to stop the person before any real bloodshed occurs.
What's most telling are the pained, strained and often aggresively dishonest attempts to defend Palin.
http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=253055&kaid=127&subid=171
I love how people keep putting this map up as evidence that Democrats are just as guilty of violent rhetoric, See? it's got targets on it.
So weak! Targets are not the same as crosshairs. Crosshairs relate very directly to firearms, and nothing else. A target applies to archery, darts, retailing, even skydiving. Like I said, the attempts to extenuate and excuse are the most telling aspect of this.
To Anonymous who posted..."And about the 9 year old? Get your facts straight! She went with a neighbor - NOT her man. " She did not say she when with her man, she said she went with her MOM. Get your fact straight! Actually, you are both wrong, she went with a family friend who took her because she was just elected to student council at her school. Her parents were called and asked to go to the U of A Medical Center. That is where they were told.
I just hit the "view previous comments" button Sarah Palin's note about a billion times and then looked for the Tina King comment, it seems to be gone....*now*.
Come on people. Sara Palin did not advocate this heinous act. I'm not even a Palin supporter and I know this. I am an American though. So do you all want to lynch me or should I just lynch myself?
Here's a copy of Sarah's henchman's voter registration. He registered as a republican, obviously.
http://img171.imageshack.us/f/jllrsc.jpg/
I think there is an interesting rationale about leaving up the moronic comment, even though you are deleting the negative comments that are "about" Palin. I think that to delete this comment is to minimize it's shocking creepiness. It certainly is a horrible thing to say, even if, as some suggest, it was satirical. However, leaving it up shows the ugliness of the poster, of the commenter, not of the page owner or the moderator of the page. I cannot control what my friends write about my posts. I can delete the posts, but that is a lot of work. I can see how someone in the public eye would want their "personal" page to have a whitewashed sheen. But there are still some comments that, BECAUSE of their sheer ugliness, should have all the light in the world focused on. There is that nuanced possibility.
It is horrible. Morally reprehensible, even. Let it stand and face the death of a thousand comments.
Great story. The comments are amusing, frightening and informative. Sarah Palin doesn't belong in politics and makes terrible choices when it comes down to it.
Defending her target map and hate speech only shows how simple minded some of you are. If you find others doing the same dumb dangerous thing point it out but do not excuse what she did in the same breath. Saying lock and load, don't retreat reload and putting targets on people on a map looks exactly like it's supposed to look.
There are crazy people out there ....some of them commenting on this story from the looks of it. Give them ideas they jump on it.
Don't be a lemming!
Was he Democrat? or was he Republican? CNN is pretty sure he was non-affiliated, and have scans of two voter forms hand-filled out by Laughner with IND and independent, respectively.
Wish we could track who's putting out those screenshots saying Dem or Rep and see where their affiliation lies!
The half baked Alaskan governor is not only a fraud, but she's is filled with such a blackness that I'm surprised she even has a shadow. Here's the truth:
http://www.truth-out.org/the-wrath-fools-an-open-letter-to-far-right66686
To Anonymous (number 6 at 23:20)-
[Since you're so amazingly cowardly you can't even use your real name)
"I hope you're happy now. It's because of the influence that you do wield, that you should think about things you say and do."
Im glad you think that Sarah Palin "Shouldn't think about things she says and does"
That she "Shouldn't leave the innocent out of her twisted diatribe"
And that it's right that an innocent little girl lost her entire life- it should have happened to you in all honesty.
I am tickled by all the people pointing out that before Admins can identify and remove a given FB post, it will generally have to be flagged by a reader.
What you are saying is that the followers of Palin's FB page fall all over themselves to remove anything remotely critical, but then saw a post dancing on the grave of a 9-year-old girl and said "yeah, that's cricket".
Beyond disgusting, really.
Main Stream Media, any of ‘em, all of ‘em, failed to expose Sarah Palin’s fake pregnancy, which allowed her venomous rhetoric to gain momentum and put her on a pedestal with the Pro-Fetus crowd.
The Journolisters knew there was a huge story there, but they opted to stay silent:
http://palingates.blogspot.com/search/label/babygate
Additionally, no investigative journalist from any major news organization (if there is still such a creature) has ever investigated her equally questionable “college degree”. For quite some time, Sarah said she had a degree in Journalism, then strangely she began instead calling it a Communications degree. In the fuzzy picture purported to be Sarah Palin in her cap and gown, she has a yellow tassel, and (coincidentally?) yellow hair like her sister Molly. Molly is a dental hygienist, and her tassel color would be golden yellow. The tassel color for Communication Studies is white. For comparison sake, the fuzzy picture shows white flowers in the background to compare with the yellow tassel.
http://palingates.blogspot.com/2010/08/sarah-palins-crazy-college-daze.html
John McCain did a weekend google search to vet Sarah Palin, and the press did little more. Now, 6 people are dead, including 9 year old Christina Taylor Green, and 14 wounded, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords with a bullet through her brain. Now, Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck are trying to scrub their gunsights and guns from the internet and make pathetic excuses and revisions to their vicious remarks. Although too late for the victims, the MSM should still do their job.
http://www.juancole.com/2011/01/naw-theres-been-no-right-wing-extreme-rhetoric.html
For me it comes down to this. If a child were caught in a classroom drawing targets on the names of any of their classmates, we would either have them mentally evaluated, or we reprimand them to teach them it is wrong. Why will we put up with the same from our political leaders?
Those of you who are complaining about getting facts straight and defending the Palin camp or any camp for that matter.
1) Putting a bullseye post up is wrong and completely irresponsible for an influential public figure. It doesn't matter who the person is. While they have the right to do it, it doesn't make it right to do so.
2) The facts on flagging is that it takes more than one flag to delete a post... but big deal.
Do us all a favor people and try removing your political affiliation from this argument, then look at the it from the eyes of a civilian, a parent, a student...
See the act that had no intent on physically hurting anyone, but the act nonetheless had potential dire circumstances. This fact makes the act irresponsible. Leaving the list up after violence had already been incited twice in 2010 makes this act pathetic.
Keep your focus on the irresponsibility of the act itself and just simply admit that it was not the wisest thing to do. Learn from this or it is all meaningless.
People died! Get over your heated rhetoric and let us hear from your human side please.
Obama London:
Thank you for doing the sleuthing on Sarah Palin's Facebook page comments. It's valuable to show her true colors — although not very startling, given what we already know about her.
By the way, I first heard about this when listening to Thom Hartmann's radio show here in the States. And another commenter pointed out that your blog was picked up by AOL. So the news is out there. We'll see how far it goes.
Best regards,
Chris Winter (in case my login doesn't take)
Some person who doesn't get it wrote: "Sarah Palin has the right to delete any comment on her facebook pages as she see fit."
Of course she and her minions have that right. But it really says everything about her, which posts she deletes and which she leaves up.
Her site should be accused of what it is: incitement to violence. It should be either taken down or she should be held personally responsible for the hatred and incitement to violence her site foments. (My own comment lasted about ten minutes. I thanked her for her generosity and thoughtfulness in removing the target symbols from Congresswoman Gifford's district. Apparently her censors get sarcasm.
Rick Provost, your initial comment was based on a dumb assumption.
Face reality. Descriptions of the shooting victims were all over the news almost instantly. In the approximate hour that Obama London covers in this post, it became clear that just one child had been killed. Equating liberals with Hitler? Implying it's OK to kill a kid on suspicion of what they would grow up to be? On its face, the comment is offensive by any reasonable standard. So even if the girl's name was not known, a comment like that should have been flagged by someone.
I knew it was sarcasm as soon as I heard of it (on Thom Hartmann's radio show.) But that clearly doesn't explain its being left up on Palin's Facebook page. Indeed, if it had been recognized as sarcasm it would have gone away sooner.
Then, in a second comment, you doubled down. My advice: Rethink your position.
That goes for you too, "blackbelt_jones". What part of "grow up to be" did you both fail to understand?
To Tina King:
Yes, the comment you left on Sarah Palin's Facebook page was in bad taste. But we all post comments we regret; I have certainly done so. Such is the instant response of the Internet.
I recognized it as sarcasm as soon as I heard about it (on Thom Hartmann's show.) And I appreciate your motivation: You wanted to shock Sarah Palin's fans into thinking about what they were posting. I often feel that way about the comments on blogs I frequent. After a while, we learn that some people just refuse to wake up. But I hope you don't learn that soon.
You were brave to come forward and identify yourself. Let the Palinites rage and condemn; they have no grounds for feeling superior.
To those who propose flagging all the comments on Sarah Palin's Facebook page, please forget that idea. Let her and her people ruin her reputation themselves. They seem to have a gift for doing that.
And to all the apologists for Palin in this 427-coment thread: Why is it that so many of you are defending her Facebook page editors by misrepresenting what those people actually did? The facts are clear: They consistently deleted comments critical of Palin within minutes while allowing some offensive in other ways to stay around longer.
Finally, I have to say these things:
Sarah Palin's rhetoric was not responsible for inciting Jared Loughner. He apparently had his own twisted grievances about Congresswoman Giffords, dating back to 2007. It will be some time before his thinking is well understood. It may never be.
However, it's well documented that the right-wing politicians and pundits produce a steady flow of inflammatory rhetoric. Some in the left wing do the same, but not nearly with the same volume or consistency. Such rhetoric can incite unstable people to commit violence. Just think of Byron Williams. He was not the first; he will not be the last.
It truly is time to "tone down the rhetoric."
Sarah Palin needs to be held accountable for her misguided, misinformed and plain evilness. At least we all know that God will hold her in contempt for all of her hate mongering. (See-no one has to curse to educate). I pray for her family.
Anyone trying to make a point in Palin's or anyone's defense under an "Anonymous" handle needs to shut the fuck up. You god damn cowards.
As a Canadian married to an American and now living in the US, this country gets scarier by the minute. The thing that amazes me is that I was a Conservative in Canada, and we call our right-wing party the "Progressive Conservatives" because we consider PROGRESS to go hand-in-hand with civilization. Yet, in the US, it is clear I'm very liberal because the word progress is demonized by the likes of Beck, Palin, etc. YES, there are extremists on both sides, but anyone with HALF A BRAIN (assuming they watch something other than Fox and listen to something other than Rushy-boy) can see that BY FAR the most violent rhetoric comes from the RIGHT. That's just a fact. I think it's also a fact that the liberals in the US actually own passports and have actually travelled outside their little bubble in the US to understand that the US is a great country that has taught the world a lot, but can also stand to learn a thing or two from the rest of the world - i.e. in a true democracy, the gov't should fear the people, not vise versa!!!!
Several people have pointed out that comments are deleted because they are flagged.
I take it, then, that none of the people who flagged other comments for deletion took issue with the sentiments in the one about the little girl.
Not much of a defense of Palin when you implicate yourself in that kind of hate speech.
To the jackass that said this -> "I bet you didn't know this, but if you are a fan of hers on Facebook and you see a derogatory comment on the note that you don't like or agree with, you can click 'Flag' and it will be removed.
How do I know? I am one of her fans and did that on my own. I'm sure there were several other people that did that as well. So...awfully shameful of you to assume that it was someone from Palin's camp.
And about the 9 year old? Get your facts straight! She went with a neighbor - NOT her man.
Ignorant freak with too much time on your hands."
First of all, you are GRUMPY! It doesn't matter who she was with the comment was horible. If her "fans" saw it, and you've made it clear that, her "fans" includes you. They should have flaged it. You are ridiculous.
For those of you vainly trying to defend the indefensible of leaving up the post about how wonderful it is that a nine year old kid is dead, it doesn't matter whether the scrubber knew who it was or wasn't. I didn't know who it was at first although it wasn't difficult to figure it out, but I found it to be extremely offensive. It is something only a very sick person, similar to Jared, would approve of. To say it's ok that someone is dead because they might grow up to be a liberal is the same as me saying that it's ok to take out Palin because she might be president some day. Would anyone find that acceptable?
It is my opinion that though Ms Palin's public persona is aggressive and confrontational, the media and the public are looking at finger-pointing instead of the underlying issue here, which is the lack of mental health in the US. This young man could have, and should have, been identified and gotten help.
Doesn't matter whether he was listening to the Palin rhetoric (which seems in line with his posts) his actions caused so much damage and harm that cannot be repaired.
NOW would be a great time to bring this discussion to the forefront and ask for public funding and compassion
Very... Nicee... Blog.. I really appreciate it... Thanks..:-)
I found this one:
Matthew C. Why anyone would or could in good conscience ever want to consider some of these hate filled liberals Americans is beyond me. My new mantra for all liberals is going to be from the words of Jaron and the Long Road to Love.... I pray your brakes go out runnin’ down a hill I pray a flowerpot falls from a window sill and knocks you in the head like I’d like to I pray your birthday comes and nobody calls I pray you’re flyin’ high when your engine stalls I pray all your dreams never come true
You can't automatically remove a comment by clicking "Flag." When you click "Flag" it is removed from YOUR view only and then alerts the page administrator. This tactic does not let the public remove comments, but lets Palin's Facebook page scrubbers do their sanitization more efficiently.
Dear obamalondon, you probably already know of this site, but if not: http://www.thomhartmann.com/
Yesterday's (1/10/11) broadcast is very interesting, it can be viewed in the uk.
Apparently he has a list of all the deleted comments from Palin's FB page, but I can't find it as I'm too stupid on the computer. (If YOU find it, could you send it to me?)
Keep up the good work!
As a Canadian, I'd say thank you for providing such absurd entertainment, if not for extreme tragedy of the situation. Do none of you have any idea of how bizarre the whole situation is? A nut case goes on a shooting spree, and you all step over the dead and dying to argue about who said what? And if you can't recognize Palin for the self-serving nonsensical narcissist that she is...
"The Fredo of the family is the president of the United States, so why doesn't his father or his brother … take him out for a little fishing, and let him say some Hail Marys – he loves God so much. … You know, Hail Mary, full of grace, God is with thee – pow [gunshot sound] – works for me."
Randi Rhodes
Liberal Talkshow host
Air America
May 2004
http://www.cynicalnation.com/randi1.mp3
Disgusting. Both sides are being complete asses and I hope you understand exactly how sad you look trying to tear each other down over this crazy person's destructive, horrific act. You should all go take a long hard look in the mirror and ask yourself what it is inside you that makes you hate people that you have never and will never meet so much. If you pray , pray for yourself, If you don't then think about it logically and without all the imposed preconceived notions drilled into you by your personal choices of information.
A child died, good people died, good people that you know nothing about other than what you have been told on the television /internet/ stupid radio show. Many people were hurt for no reason. WE as a NATION are all to blame for failing to get this man the help he has obviously needed for a long time. WE as a NATION are all to blame for the inability to talk to eachother. and YOU the MEDIA are to blame for stoking these fires, turning them to white hot, encouraging people to bring guns to public events (People that COULD be just as crazy as this guy), telling people to reload, defining you opponent as the enemy, or evil, or somehow not as HUMAN as you are.
ALL of you need to point those fingers inward and try and reflect on exactly what it is you believe.
To the idiot who said the loon who committed the acts was a registered democrat...get your facts straight, he was an independent who liked to read up on varying ideologies of left and right wing political beliefs. And for not removing that post about the young girl is absurdity on Palins' staffs behalf.
Seems that Palin likes the 2nd Amendment better than the 1st...
#Palin sends 1.8.11 dissent down the memory hole. video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUe_rf3qMYg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XCim_PN0As capture of discussion on Palin's FB page as her mods deleted posts and topics.
Interesting article. I've usually given Sarah Palin a break and thought she was too relaxed with her writers...oddness is right...I just can't make sense out of the things she says and does most of the time
Disgusting! While I have never been a Palin fan, she has proven over and over again how horrendous she really is. At one rally a number of months back that I witnessed she was firing up those who support her while they chanted over and over again "Kill the N_____!" in refernce to President Obama. Rather than try and correct them for their offense language she continued to keep them going and encourage the behavior. It was beyond disgusting...
Sarah Palin likes to say, "Don't retreat — RELOAD!" To which I say, "Hey, Sarah — it's not the '80s anymore, we have guns too. Do you really want to go down in history as the one that sparked Civil War II?"
I see Palin supporters noting that fans of Palin's page can "flag" comments for removal, and that Palin's camp need not remove the posts themselves. Flagging comments only removes them from the screen of the flagger, and temporarily at that. Log out, then return to the page and the comment will appear there again, just as bfeore. Flagging a comment sends an alert to the Facebook team that the comment is allegedly breaking Facebook's rule of conduct. With many millions of flags for the staff to review, it does take some time. Days, not minutes. The only party capable of deleting posts immediately are the page admins.
Palin's camp of page admins were, in fact, busy at work removing posts that were offensive to them.
As the page IS managed privately -- as all our Facebook pages are -- she may do whatever she likes with it. Nonetheless, I don't appreciate the manner in which she has dealt with this tragedy. She was handed an opportunity to calm and reassure her supporters, gracefully acknowledge her detractors and do what she can to ease the violence of the current media war. It wouldn't have been easy, but a leader -- as she and her supporters purport she is -- should have used better judgement in reacting to a tragic event.
I'M from Australia -
Palin is a Hypocrite - stops at nothing for policical gain - shooting cross-hairs of a gun-site on her Opponents - all blood and guts the shit hits the fan - what happens - quick-draw Palin wipes her bloody cross-hair of her site- how more of a Hypocrite can you get--
Oh! dont blam me I didn't do anything to contibute - ( I say Bullshit) and that goes for a few other bloody-minded poolies-havin' tea parties and others all now squeaky clean-
I listened to her so called heartfelt plea
not me, no no not me who had - gun cross-hairs
on people - including (the Senator who was SHOT) --- from downunder
I'M from Australia -
Palin is a Hypocrite - stops at nothing for policical gain - shooting cross-hairs of a gun-site on her Opponents - all blood and guts the shit hits the fan - what happens - quick-draw Palin wipes her bloody cross-hair of her site- how more of a Hypocrite can you get--
Oh! dont blam me I didn't do anything to contibute - ( I say Bullshit) and that goes for a few other bloody-minded poolies-havin' tea parties and others all now squeaky clean-
I listened to her so called heartfelt plea
not me, no no not me who had - gun cross-hairs
on people - including (the Senator who was SHOT) --- from downunder
This is all truly amazing. I'm so glad I'm not pursuing a political career. Who's to say if Hitler was given more hugs as a kid he would have turned out as he did. I have become fascinated on how our country is viewed by other countries. We have renewed our "crazy" status but maybe that was the objective. No kids on the playground wants to play with the "crazy" kid cause they are afraid of getting hurt OR the "craziness" might infect them!
How were you able to determine whether any, or all, of these comments weren't deleted by the original poster? It's not possible to determine that, so your reasoning is flawed.
Anonymous at 18:59 - you're right that I can't prove that none of the comments I showed were removed by the commenters themselves. It's possible some of them may have been.
But do you think it's really probable that every single person who posted to criticise Sarah Palin spontaneously retracted their criticism within moments of posting? And that none of her supporters did?
I'm not talking about removing one or two posts here, it's clearly a policy of ALL critical posts vanishing.
I have NOT read all these comments but I did read one where the poster says that anyone can 'flag' and thus remove a comment....this is simply NOT true. The poster writes:
"So...awfully shameful of you to assume that it was someone from Palin's camp.
Ignorant freak with too much time on your hands."
Sorry, I don't like name calling but who exactly is the 'ignorant freak.'
When you 'flag' something on this or any such site you are NOT removing it from public view. Do you actually believe that anyone can remove anyone else post at will? NO!!! You are removing it from YOUR view. It will no longer appear on YOUR feed but it remains in the public view. The 'flag' removes it from YOUR view and sends just that a 'flag' to the site administrator so that he/she will review it and decided whether to remove it from the public view.
NO!!!! Comments that disappear from public view can ONLY be done by the administrator and thus this is EXACTLY what is happening.
Not sure how anyone could NOT understand that. I mean do you really think that ANYONE can remove a comment made by someone else in a public forum?
So I ask again who here is the "Ignorant freak."
"Who is the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows (her)."
Sorry for the seemingly bitter approach there ...but damn that was an ignorant comment.
the 9 year old? Get your facts straight! She went with a neighbor - NOT her man.
Ignorant freak with too much time on your hands.
NoMoosestew: Read above post. It says her MOM not MAN. It was her neighbor you say. Yes it was. What does it have to do with the horrible remark being left there?
Does the total count of posts on FB include those deleted or just the ones allowed to remain? My name is Captain Ron.
I admit I Google certain people every once in awhile just to see how they've embarrassed themselves recently - which is how I ended up on this site.
I definitely need to widen my Google searches.
I would post this on another of OL's threads but it would be overlooked in the current feeding frenzy.
Love this blog (also, I have no problem with owning my words and using my real name).
Unfortunately this doesn't surprise me at all. The USA is quickly going through the death throes of a dying empire. Fascism will become more prevalent and then the only real question is if there will be another civil war before the collapse.
It may take a few years, but the rot has set in and I can't see any bipartisan agreement on ... well anything.
Good luck Americans, you are in for an interesting ride.
Ok I am an American, very much a liberal, and a patriot, yet I fear the above poster may be very much correct.
This has all happened before and will all happen again. That is if we don't recognize the mistakes and learn (as an entire civilization) to NOT repeat them.
Again this has all happened before --anti-intellectualism, the use of blind hate as a political tool. These very much are the very things that have brought great nations to their knees.
Liberal patriots MUST see this and do all we can to stop it, but can we? We cannot at this juncture pander and NOT recognize right from wrong and not be brave enough to label such as such.
Palin and her ilk very much ARE blinding wielding the tool of political hatred. With no agenda except their own desire for fame, power and attention.
WE MUST SEE THIS....or as the above poster suggests we will implode.
Offer someone as clearly delusional and unfit as Palin (and no I don't hate her, but please she is NOT a leader)as your leader, and you discount this great country as a leader among the community of nations.
Yes there is a critical mass approaching in the rise and fall of the American Empire ....will there be a fall as there has always been when 'the single super power model' has developed on this planet? Or will we understand the path we have most frighteningly stepped on?
I have hope ..... but yes I also have despair. Let me believe we can be better.
And to the rest of the world looking at the current state of affairs in this country I assure you there are LOTS of like minded folks who do see this and we are so trying to get it stopped. Forgive us, we are not ALL crazy.
dear clara,
no one's perfect, but we all think free speech is pretty great...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/15/john-bercow-charm-public-life
-CBF
Great work!! I don't know why I failed to think about that.
It happened pretty much exactly like that for me. I posted a message, partly so our people on the more Liberal side wouldn't go quite so radical. I meant it as a message of peace really. The thread name was something like "Attention all Democrats & Independent Thinkers"
This is addressed to all Democrats & Independents. If you’re like me, you’re probably appalled by the level of animosity at times in here. But please remember that this country cannot exist with one political party. It indeed takes two to tango.
But if you believe, as I do that we can’t take words that are meant to hurt, and return the favor with likewise words. Indeed, I’ve fallen prey myself… but if we keep our heads and wits about us we should always either ignore or try to straighten the record. Above all, we’ve got to show people who’re maybe on the borderline that we can be civil, even when faced with animosity thrown in our faces. There’s many in the Republican/Tea Bag party here, who will try to goad you into confrontation. But if you react with venom, all you’ve done is to make it clear that indeed they’re right in saying that we are the ones looking for a fight. And as is sometimes the case, they may they’ll win that round.
I have no doubts that President Obama will prevail, but in the meantime, let’s show not only this forum, but the world that we can indeed hold our heads high. Political tensions are always high, but when goaded into responding to a flame, indeed it’s not good to strike back. Hold your tensions, and your head high, and let your actions mirror your personality. We’ll all be stronger for it.
_________________________
The thread might have lasted maybe 20 minutes. All the responses we're very benign and supportive. I went to make a comment, and BANG.... I was kicked back onto Facebook homepage. I was then done.
So at least I PMd most of my friends to tell them, and it's been pretty positive and now they've a thread up asking admin why this happened. I don't expect it to be around long.
But thanks guys! *waves*
Superb blog post, I have book marked this internet site so ideally I’ll see much more on this subject in the foreseeable future!
Superb blog post, I have book marked this internet site so ideally I’ll see much more on this subject in the foreseeable future!
Superb blog post, I have book marked this internet site so ideally I’ll see much more on this subject in the foreseeable future!
well it's a common truth that the "freedom" in America is a variable. They say "freedom of mind" but they mean "vote for us". Sarah Palin just can't accept critics.
Facebook Organization Page: How do you change the Administrator without recreating the page from scratch?
Brad Fallon: It's easy to change administrators. Firstly, if you are the admin on a page, you are free to add additional admins. So if you want to transfer your administration to someone else, simply add them as an admin, then instruct them to go in and delete you as an admin (if you no longer want to be). Simple as that. If you want more specific advice, drop me a note on twitter and I'll talk you through it.
How do you change the Administrator without recreating the page from scratch?
Goes like this, folks. People who’re pussy-cats, follow the rules even if they hurt others, don’t question the government’s evil, and turn-me-in under the cover of anonymity, we’ll go 1-on-1 at the General Judgment. The funny thing is, now I’m on BIG, BAD Janet’s list of bloody terrorists (kick-ass, huh?) even though I’m a head-injured-wetard for speak’n the TRUTH. Most of U.S. are controlled, conformed, walking ‘the Wall’ to our demise: rise above, America. Think summore past the vastly impotent, world government; don’t do the suicidal, whorizontal reality; and, whatever you do, don’t get played like a HAARP. Hope you got something outta this I-candy: Truth Shall Set You Free. God bless.
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It's her FB page. Repeat: HERS. Not anyone else's. She can delete anything she wants to.
Agreed, it is Palin's Facebook and her "people" can delete any post they know will get under their boss's too-thin skin. Palin's censors didn't have a clue who little Christina Taylor Green was, nor did any of Palin's post-flagging fan club. They zealously do damage control for Sarah, but much like Palin they have trouble remembering things like "facts" or anything "un-Sarah".
How would Sarah silence her critics if pigs should suddenly sprout bat wings and fly and she did become president?
Ok we get it.. you hate Sara Palin.. I guess she intimidates you . You probably tried to rent a house next to her . Grow up and leave the former governor alone and stalk some other hottie. So sick of reading this liberal crap all the time. Just a narcissistic political party. Find God he answers prayers . Do you pick on her daughter with down syndrome also? Liberal men are intimidated by strong conservative women that aren't homely like all the smart liberal women. They think pretty women cant be smart or a viable political force.
To the cowardly (& crazy) Anonymous - 27 April 2011 22:00
a few things:
1 - misspelling SaraH's name doesn't confuse any intelligent reader here into believing you're not the tea-tard we all know you are.
2 - i hate lots of things that don't "intimidate" me. Generally speaking, i tend to hate STUPID PEOPLE. That includes pop-tart pseudo-politician palin AND you.
3 - lOl @ you calling Palin a "HOTTIE". Are you a 65+ year old viagra taking man who's failing eyesight makes him come to this ridiculous conclusion? haha!
4 - If you're sick of reading "liberal crap" then stop reading it & shove your head back up your butt where you usually keep it, but spare us your stupid, senseless complaining.
5 - lOl @ you calling Dems/Liberals "narcissistic" after labeling pop-tart pseudo-politician palin a "hottie" and then concluding your post by speaking about the "homeliness" of Dems/Liberals.
Project much? it's "YOU" who is a narcissist - as well as superficial teatard.
6 - Find God? I already did & you know what? My bible tells me that God doesn't like fear & hatemongers like Pop-tart pseduo-politician palin. He also doesn't care for their pseudo-christian apologist enablers like yourself.
7 - Palin's son Trig has downs, not her daughter. FYI, pretending you don't know the specifics about her life doesn't convince anyone reading that you're not the palin tea-tard we all know you are.
8 - you tea-tards are all morans.
signed,
Tired of the tea-tards
IN RESPONSE TO YOUR STUPIDITY:
Ok we get it.. you hate Sara Palin.. I guess she intimidates you . You probably tried to rent a house next to her . Grow up and leave the former governor alone and stalk some other hottie. So sick of reading this liberal crap all the time. Just a narcissistic political party. Find God he answers prayers . Do you pick on her daughter with down syndrome also? Liberal men are intimidated by strong conservative women that aren't homely like all the smart liberal women. They think pretty women cant be smart or a viable political force.
Six people are dead and fourteen wounded during an attempt to assassinate Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords of Tuscon, AZ.
The third-term Representative of a swing district had shown political courage. She voted for the heath care bill. She was an outspoken critic of her states’ anti-immigrant fervor, while supporting comprehensive reform in Washington.
Her courage made her a target.
The night after she voted in favor of the health care bill, the glass door to her office was smashed. For months, hundreds of people she characterized as members of “the Tea Party movement” protested outside of her office. Slurs were common. So were harassing letters and phone calls.
Because she was considered an incumbent vulnerable to defeat, her opponents did their best to foment and channel voter anger.
Sometimes this meant using language and images from America’s gun culture. Giffords was a “target” in “the crosshairs” who needed to be “taken out.” "Get on Target for Victory in November" read an invite to an event for her Republican opponent. "Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office. Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly."
The New York Times accurately assigned blame in its first editorial about the shooting. “It is facile and mistaken to attribute this particular madman’s act directly to Republicans or Tea Party members,” they wrote. “But it is legitimate to hold Republicans and particularly their most virulent supporters in the media responsible for the gale of anger that has produced the vast majority of these threats, setting the nation on edge. Many on the right have exploited the arguments of division, reaping political power by demonizing immigrants, or welfare recipients, or bureaucrats.”
Giffords herself said much the same thing when she was interviewed by MSNBC after her office door was smashed. “Community leaders, not just political leaders, need to stand back when things get too fired up and say whoa, let’s take a step back here.”
So, how have Republicans responded? Did they show leadership by calling on people to step back, as Giffords asked?
NO. They shirk their culpability & continue to try to blame Liberal/Dems for "THEIR" FEAR & HATE-MONGERING.
Disgusting.
Signed,
Tired of the Teatards
Anonymous on April 21:
Firstly, I am female. Sarah Palin's child with Downs Syndrome however is male.
Secondly, I know for a fact that pretty women can be smart, accomplished and successful. I know many such women!
And finally, please read some more posts on this blog, especially the one immediately following this one labelled, "This is not a Sarah Palin blog." It's all about how... well, this is not a Sarah Palin blog.
lovely artcle,
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You guys have been Ofumducked.
u people are sick, all you do is put people down and lie. You would not know what the truth was if it hit you in the face. I personally do not like what is going on and if you had any brains, you would see the truth, Obama has done nothing but divided the people and caused nothing but trouble and only wants people like you to talk, because you do not tell the truth and most of you are only for Obama, because you want everything free and you know without him and the left side you will be loosing free stuff. What every happened to working for what you want and be proud of what you did, now it is be proud of living off the government and the tax payers. Our country has gone to pot, because of Obama and the left wing. They are over sized kids give me what I want, are else. Wake people, Obama is fake as they come, he knows nothing about this country and how it should be. I have nothing against him, just his policy and if you call the race, then so be it, because who calls race all the time are the race ones.
Hi anonymous,
Well you've figured out my clever game. I give large quantities of my time, money and energy to the US Democratic Party despite living in the UK just because I love getting stuff for free. And although tax rates are higher here and I do not claimnany form of government assistance I'm sure that my cynical and cunning scheme will pay off.
Because the alternative, that I love my country and want to see it thrive, that I'm concerned for the welfare of people unlike me who have not been given the advantages I enjoy, and that I believe my President to be an admirable person motivated by the same values... That's just CRAZY.
Best wishes,
Karin
Your style is really unique compared to other people I have read stuff from. Thank you for posting when you have the opportunity, Guess I'll just book mark this page.
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