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Dropping Facebook Friends

Bahni Turpin in Yoga Journal (4/2003) It is possible to remove Facebook friends. Just in case you did not know this, Facebook user, now you know. So far I count four removals from my account:

One: Paul D. Miller and I really tried to work it out on Facebook. I added him as a friend and he kindly accepted. But then this Antarctica thing came up again and, well… I relieved him of his “weird” burden.

Two: Bahni Turpin has memories of my legendary bad breath from my impoverished 20s and 30s. I don’t blame her for getting the hell away from me. She fired me before I could quit.

Three: I will not name the young lady that probably won’t even notice I am gone. This is a person I met through another young lady—but even though these two ladies fought (verbally and physically)—I still tried to hang in there for the future. Eventually, I decided that there is no future. She never communicated with me once on Facebook (and she is active on the site).

Hitler, Ja! (Propaganda Poster) ** ** Four: Were it not for Saul Williams writing once every few months, I would mistake his account as an inactive ‘fake’ (an account set up by a third party “representing” Saul Williams). I admit that my experience with DJ Spooky provoked me to drop this account but no one is hurt by my decision. Saul is a very busy dude.

It should be helpful remember that “professional” people join Facebook for “professional” reasons. This means that having high Friend numbers is very important. These numbers represent a “mass audience” for potential marketing. So I can’t be “mad” at DJ Spooky for posting the same YouTube.com video twice (or even thrice) in less than 72 hours.

But as soon as one of these “professionals” starts deleting my comments on their promotions I feel that I am being censored by one of my “friends.” There is no point in having a “friend” when you can’t speak to them—and, even you do, they claim to not understand what you are saying and invoke words like “huh?,” “weird” or, worse, “normal.”

The artists I’m familiar with (because of my own poverty) tend to forget that the white world’s “towering mad men”—especially Hitler and Mao—were artists just like them. So when they seek to censure they should understand the heritage of such behavior. I am not suggesting that I do not block people to protect myself. I am saying that I am more than satisfied to explain in gritty detail why a person is being blocked by me when the person is sincerely curious enough to ask. I am talking to you Paul D. Correction: I was talking to you…

rasx()