Information Wars: Power or Danger

 

I got a frantic phone call from College Boy while he was at work the other afternoon. 

"Mom," he said, "quick, can you get onto FB and delete my account?"

Delete his account? "Why?" I asked him. "Please, I can't talk, I'm at work and I need it deleted."

"Just tell me, are you safe?" "Yes," he told me. "And have you done something wrong, are you in trouble?" "No," he assured me, "I just don't want any pictures of me on social media. I'll talk to you later."

Let me just take a step back here and say this:

Information is power.

And information is dangerous.

In this country, we have blurred those lines, and every day I see another frightening situation that proves my point.

Many states have decided that in order to have a book approved for their schools' curriculum, history, our country's past, must either be denied or rewritten. Politicians are using their power to deny students information. I wrote about this in my post Woke Up, about how I believe that blocking information from students, squashing critical thinking, will ultimately be to the detriment of our future. If we are going to have breakthroughs, in all industries, information, the good, the bad, and the ugly, all needs to be disseminated. Information, in the form of educating honestly, is power.

And power over information is dangerous.

When it comes to information itself being dangerous, I've talked about this before, we are tracked, spied on, made marketing targets without any ability to limit the personal information collected. It is not only creepy, but an affront to our ability to feel safe, to feel that our identity is safe, to feel that we can even discuss family issues with our children via phone or text. How can I feel that my identity is safe when companies I've never heard of send me birthday wishes? They know my name, my address, my email, my birth date. I am impotent, naked, unable to control what strangers know about me.

What I put out there myself, like on this blog, the recipes I share, the stories I share, that is, and should be my choice.

Strawberry Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

But the rest of it, the personal information I do not put out for public consumption, should be controlled by me. Only me. 

More than that, a dangerous step further than that, is that not only do marketers have access to our personal information, but they don't just market us personally based on it. They are reckless with it, sell it, put it out there for others to find.

I did get into my son's FB account and deleted it for him. And then I waited anxiously for him to come over and explain why he wanted pictures of himself off of social media.

Besides a day job, College Boy engages in his first love, music. He buys and sells albums. I'll often hear old jazz or blues coming from his room, but the rare and limited edition records he buys and sells are mostly Hip Hop and Rap. He's extremely well informed on the history of the genre, and is engaged in the community, on Discord and other social media platforms where they share information, availability, purchases and sales. He'll stay up late, wake up early, sometimes even set me up on a laptop when there's going to be a limited edition drop.

Recently, he'd been able to buy a rare bundle, which he shared with his groups. In one group, some people offered College Boy a very lot of money to rip (copy) the album for them. He refused, it's not only illegal, but unfair to the artist.

One guy was very, very angry. When my son heard of a business that had a copy, he reached out to this guy. He didn't know if it would be for sale or not, but he wanted to just mention it. The guy responded by telling College Boy to "piss off." When College Boy said he was just trying to help, the guy's response was rude, borderline threatening. The guy then immediately changed his profile picture.

To a picture of my house.

I don't know how dangerous this guy may or may not be. I do know that he was able to go onto Google and find a picture of our home. And use it as a veiled threat.

Information can be power. And Information can be danger. We as a society need to identify which is which. But when it comes to personal information we, as citizens, should have a voice in setting the parameters for ourselves. We must have the right to protect our own privacy. And in some cases, even possibly ensure our own safety.

Strawberry Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies         

                                                                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients (makes about 3 dz large cookies):
1 stick butter, softened

1 stick margarine, softened

1 1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups flour

1/4 tsp cinnamon 

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3 strawberries, hulled and chopped

6 strawberry cream cookies, chopped

2/3 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

*Cream the butter, margarine, and both sugars. Once smooth, beat in the eggs.

*Starting on the lowest speed until incorporated, beat in the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.

*Press the chopped strawberries between paper towels to remove some of the moisture.

*Mix in the cookie pieces, dark chocolate chips, and strawberries into the dough. 

*Drop the dough, by rounded tablespoons, onto the baking sheets. Leave lots of room, they spread.

*Bake for 12 - 13 minutes, until browned, then leave on the cookie sheets for 3 minutes before removing them to cool completely.