Facebook reminds me to get with the program

by philg

I haven’t been using Facebook since my father died (see Should one stay off Facebook, Instagram, et al. following the death of a parent?), but I checked in on my birthday last month. Here’s part of the page showing my timeline:

Note the lower left section in which I am exhorted to be virtuous:

Add a COVID-19 vaccine frame to your profile picture
We can all play a part in ending the pandemic. Add a frame to your profile picture. Your new picture will be shown to your friends to inspire them to get their vaccines as soon as they can.

You might think that the robots at Facebook would have figured out that 95 percent of my friends are Democrats (most are in academic, pharma, or medical jobs where a bigger government means they’ll enjoy a higher income, or they’re in Silicon Valley where expressing skepticism regarding Joe Biden would mean ostracism) and that the majority are already vaccinated (they’ve posted pictures of themselves getting shots, added their own vaccine frame, etc.). What is the rationale for asking me to celebrate my now-stale vaccination with a frame? That Facebook friends who’ve resisted 10 months of intensive propaganda from the government, the media, and Facebook itself will suddenly be convinced? Remember that most of the unvaccinated folks I know live in Massachusetts and are exposed to demands that they comply (“play a part in ending the pandemic”) every few miles while driving, every few minutes when walking in an urban area, etc. A vaccine frame from me would increase their exposure to pro-vaccine propaganda by less than 0.1%.

How long do we keep up the vaccination virtue signals?

[Separately, my father’s experience is not the best advertisement for COVID-19 vaccine safety. He went into a steep decline and died one week after receiving his second injection of Pfizer.]

9 thoughts on “Facebook reminds me to get with the program”

  1. As you know, I’ve already been vaccinated, and I wear an Aegle N95 folding mask when I go to a convenience store to buy a pack of gum or a bag of ice (the better to cool down my aching head) – so I will of course welcome your epiphany with open arms, and I promise not to make fun of you. In fact, despite Facebook knowing both of those aforementioned facts about me (don’t they? I’ve told them!) I might be the reason you are still being prodded.

    Even though I *believe* in #Science no matter how many times the #Science changes, I still tend to regard the phenomenon of #ChangingScience with amazed bemusement.

    For example, take this statement from Michael Osterholm in today’s New York Times (“The Morning” – David Leonhardt)

    “We still are really in the cave ages in terms of understanding how viruses emerge, how they spread, how they start and stop, why they do what they do,” Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota, has told me.”

    Here we are, this late into the pandemic, and not only do we not know very much about this virus, we are in the CAVE AGES of understanding viruses….PERIOD! Wow have we spent a lot of money on CAVE RESEARCH!

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/08/briefing/covid-restrictions-delta-caseload.html

    I guess I’ll just call you “Ook” and you can call me “Ock” ! We’ll be “Ook & Ock: Cavemen!”

    Here’s more on “Pandemic Predictor” Osterholm from way back in March:

    https://www.startribune.com/pandemic-predictor-michael-osterholm-gives-us-both-science-and-the-hope-to-cope-with-it/600037555/

    So don’t worry, Philip. Whatever you decide to do is OK by me.

    • I note that as of February/March of 2021, even the brilliant, resourceful and dedicated Youyang Gu (who “…completed his Bachelor’s degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), double majoring in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science and Mathematics. He also received his Master’s degree at MIT, completing his thesis as part of the Natural Language Processing group at the MIT Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.”) began to wind down his efforts and, in his words:

      https://youyanggu.com/blog/one-year-later

      “…the work [of] compiling, cleaning, standardizing, and making sense of COVID-19 data from 56 individual states and territories is properly the work of federal public health agencies”. In the same spirit, the work of modeling and forecasting COVID-19 is properly the work of epidemiologists and the greater public health community.”

      If Youyang Gu essentially decided that this task was better left up to other #Scientists, what alternative do the rest of us have except to do whatever they say?

    • “Epidemiologist Michael Osterholm, who famously predicted a global pandemic years ago (in 2005!), is Minnesota’s best-known science geek, with an international reputation. Since his prophecy became devastatingly true last year, the self-described “disease detective” has been advising President Joe Biden’s team on how to combat COVID.”

      Amazing puff piece. Today I’m predicting stock market collapse and environmental catastrophe. Whenever it happens, gimme credit!!

  2. A vaccine frame could be valuable for Facebook: It is another data point if they sell your data to, e.g., insurance companies (in this case you might get bonus points).

    If they sell the data to potential employers, it might signal compliance (good!).

  3. I am truly sorry to hear about your father you have my condolences and my thoughts are with you and your family. I will now attempt to answer the questions you have asked us readers.

    What is the rationale for asking me to celebrate my now-stale vaccination with a frame? You answered this question with you own question number 3. As you noticed in your old state of maskachusetts people love to virtue signal! This frame gives people a very easy and convenient way to do so.

    That Facebook friends who’ve resisted 10 months of intensive propaganda from the government, the media, and Facebook itself will suddenly be convinced? It is doubtful these deplorables will be convinced. The next step will be for facebook to ban the unvaccinated! These dirty disease spreaders should not have the privilege to enjoy our society!

    How long do we keep up the vaccination virtue signals? We will keep this up until the democrats loose power starting in 2022.

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