Facebook strikes again (this time, Shakespeare is “collateral damage”)

After a seven days suspension, for reasons I ignore (1), Facebook gave me another 30 days suspension. This time, they explained why. A post from this blog, "O Ovo da Serpente" ("The Serpent's Egg", the name of the Ingmar Bergman movie about the "birth" of Nazism in Germany, in 1920's) was the reason. That post was the first one I wrote on April 2016, when I started this blog. The title? "The Murderous Among Us" - same title of the biography of Simon Wiesenthal, the legendary Nazi hunter and a man who survived evil at its darkest form - Auschwitz!

 

After the title, my post had a quotation from William Shakespeare's Julius Ceaser (Act 2, Scene 1, Page 2): “And therefore think him as a serpent’s egg - Which, hatched, would as his kind grow mischievous - And kill him in the shell.” This was the image, just above the quotation (the image is from advertisement material used for Ingmar Bergman’s movie):

 

Then, at the bottom of the post, another image – this time a picture that went viral, a couple of years ago. Two women with burkas carry a poster saying “God Bless Hitler”. So, that’s it. Facebook considered I violated the community rules and put me on hold for 30 days. You know what came across my mind, at that moment? Martin Niemöller famous poem, about those "they" came for, in the beginning. With some small adjustments:

 

"First, Facebook came for the Socialists..

 

First, Facebook came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out - Because I was not a Socialist.

Then, Facebook came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out - Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then, Facebook came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - Because I was not a Jew.

Then, Facebook came for me - and there was, already, no one left to speak for me.

Then, Facebook even came for William Shakespeare - and there was, really, really, no one left to speak for him…"

 

(1)  Note:

 

Before this 30 days suspension, I wasn’t able to post or receive messages, at my page, for seven days. Facebook told me that a text I published was removed, because it broke those famous community rules and it brought with you the seven days suspension. 

 

As the text had 6.000 characters, I asked them to be more precise and tell me exactly what, from my writing, was a violation of their standards. They never replied to me. This was the second time Facebook removed something I published. First time, they removed pictures of survivors of a concentration camp (Auschwitz) claiming those pictures had "nudity…”

 

I know Mr. Mark Zuckerberg is Jew. It seems I must believe that these “small” problems with Facebook are nothing more than that, they will not grow up and we don’t need to worry. Right. That’s exactly the opposite of what Martin Niemöller pictured, in the first verses of his poem. When first (and necessary...) small things happen, we just say “Oh, it’s all right, just a mistake, staff that is not well trained, some algorithm that is not yet fine tuned..”

 

Than, one day, they will come for us. And, at that time, there will be no one left to speak for us, as Martin Niemöller was well aware of, when he wrote this powerful poem.