It ain't Supermax, but Facebook jail is no fun at all

Again!?!

As you can see from my post several weeks ago, I received a seven-day sentence in Facebook Jail for what they called hate speech.

I referred to Donald Trump as "(rich) white trash."

I served my sentence, did my time, and when my sentence was up, the warden gave me a suit of clothes and a $20 bill and told me the next train to Memphis was leaving in two hours.

Huh?

Never mind. I promised to be more careful and began posting again.


Then last night I went on line to learn -- to my great shock -- that I was back in jail, this time for 30 days, for referring to Muslims as "Muzzies."

Six years ago.

I was certainly guilty. Back in 2013, I was trying to say that one of the biggest threats in the world was ultra-orthodox religion by the Muzzies (radical Islam), the Jujubes (radical Judaism) and the Jeebus folk (fundamentalist Christianity).

Now you can argue that might be hate speech. I stopped using those terms at least 3-4 years ago. But it seems to me that a mildly annoying post from six years ago should have passed far beyond any reasonable statute of limitations.

Otherwise I'll eventually be punished for that day in 1959 when I got into a scuffle with another kid and called him a "n****r."

That was the only time in my life I used that word as an epithet, and at age 9, I didn't even know what it meant.

Statue of Limitations

The kid -- like every other kid I knew -- was white.

"Ninety days, Jerry!"

Come on now. I can't be the only person out there who remembers Jerry Reed's great song from the late '60s, "When You're Hot You're Hot."

At any rate, Facebook allows you to appeal the decision, but it's sort of silly. You can ask them to reconsider, but you can't do anything to explain why you shouldn't be suspended.

I appealed.

They rejected the appeal.

I decided to deactivate my Facebook account. It was a surprisingly difficult decision. There are at least 15-20 people who matter to me that my only contact is through Facebook. For most of them, I don't even have phone numbers or email accounts.

I suppose I could reactivate my account after May 26th, but I may do it only to contact those 15-20 people and try to find ways to communicate with them outside Facebook.

Well, I suppose I have time to think it over.

"Thirty days, Mikey."