{"id":829,"date":"2021-11-20T00:36:54","date_gmt":"2021-11-19T23:36:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/2021\/11\/20\/the-meek-will-inherit-the-kingdom-the-angry-will-inherit-facebooks-metaverse-america-magazine\/"},"modified":"2021-11-20T00:36:54","modified_gmt":"2021-11-19T23:36:54","slug":"the-meek-will-inherit-the-kingdom-the-angry-will-inherit-facebooks-metaverse-america-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/2021\/11\/20\/the-meek-will-inherit-the-kingdom-the-angry-will-inherit-facebooks-metaverse-america-magazine\/","title":{"rendered":"The meek will inherit the kingdom. The angry will inherit Facebook&#039;s &#039;metaverse.&#039; &#8211; America Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"cfbc967f0983488262956e73eca9483a\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3859091246952232\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- blok -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3859091246952232\" data-ad-slot=\"1334354390\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n\n<\/div>\n<p>Each day, Facebook amplifies anger around the world. And the company\u2019s own internal documents show how it seems unable or unwilling to fix the problem.<br \/>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/technology\/anger-and-hate-easiest-way-to-grow-on-facebook-says-whistleblower-1.4710204\">Anger and hate is the easiest way\u201d<\/a> to build a following on Facebook, company whistleblower Frances Haugen said last month in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Top_News\/World-News\/2021\/10\/25\/uk-frances-haugen-facebook-british-parliament\/2631635158072\/\">testimony before British lawmakers<\/a>. \u201cThe current system is biased toward bad actors, and people who push people to the extremes.\u201d<br \/>For this reason among others, Catholics and all people of good will should approach with serious skepticism the announcement by Meta (the new name of Facebook\u2019s parent company) of a so-called metaverse, billed as \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2021\/oct\/29\/mocking-meta-facebooks-virtual-reality-name-change-prompts-backlash\">the next chapter of social connection<\/a>.\u201d<br \/><span class=\"contentTweetBlock\">Arguments on Facebook are heated now. Imagine how much worse they will be when we virtually appear in the same room as our opponents yet still experience the feeling of anonymity our screens allow.<\/span><br \/>In the metaverse, company founder and chairman Mark Zuckerberg <a href=\"https:\/\/theweek.com\/republicans\/1006989\/dr-oz-reportedly-hiring-staff-for-a-potential-senate-campaign\">said last month<\/a>, \u201cyou\u2019re going to really feel like you\u2019re there with other people. You\u2019ll see their facial expressions, you\u2019ll see body language.\u201d When you want to take a break, you can \u201cteleport to a private bubble, to be alone.\u201d In other words, Facebook meets virtual reality.<br \/>Arguments on Facebook are heated now. Imagine how much worse they will be when we virtually appear in the same room as our opponents yet still experience the feeling of anonymity our screens allow, retreating to that \u201cprivate bubble\u201d after launching rhetorical grenades.<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.americamagazine.org\/politics-society\/2021\/11\/18\/facebook-engagement-endangers-common-good-241870\"><em><strong>[The editors of America magazine: Facebook is threatening the common good.]<\/strong><\/em><\/a><br \/>As a newspaper reporter in Ohio, I have seen how Facebook has eroded trust among neighbors by encouraging anger and a disregard for facts. For example, a City Council member in Huber Heights, a suburb of Dayton, was the target of unfounded attacks from a Facebook group alleging that his trip to Disney World was paid for by a city contractor. The attacks turned so acrid that the part-time public official deleted his personal Facebook account. A small online contingent of his neighbors had made public service unbearable.<br \/>\u201cI just feel like I\u2019ve been stalked for 12 months solid,\u201d Mark Campbell told the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pressreader.com\/usa\/dayton-daily-news\/20150107\/281522224461350\">Dayton Daily News<\/a> after the city attorney cleared him of wrongdoing.<br \/>I worry the metaverse will further amplify this type of anger, which feeds off misinformation and harms both the public and its government servants.<br \/><span class=\"contentTweetBlock\">I worry the metaverse will further amplify this type of anger, which feeds off misinformation and harms both the public and its government servants.<\/span><br \/>On the national stage, Ms. Haugen claims that Facebook <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/donald-trump-technology-business-social-media-media-07124025bdbeba98a7c7b181562c3c1a\">turned off or rolled back safety measures<\/a> after the 2020 election, even as users vowed to carry out what would become the riot on Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol. The company says that the documents leaked by Haugen are taken out of context and that Facebook does not intentionally push provocative material.<br \/><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.americamagazine.org\/arts-culture\/2021\/11\/02\/facebook-meta-mark-zuckerberg-241763\">[Related: Sorry, Mark Zuckerberg: We Catholics want the real world, not the metaverse.]<\/a><\/strong><\/em><br \/>Looking at the rest of the world, in Poland, where the vast majority of the country at least nominally identifies as Roman Catholic, Facebook is accused by political parties there of pushing the country toward a \u201csocial civil war.\u201d Now the parties are adapting to the fact that inflammatory content is shared more widely on the social media platform, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/2021\/10\/27\/poland-facebook-algorithm\/\">company documents reviewed by the Washington Post<\/a>.<br \/>Far worse, Facebook \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-myanmar-rohingya-facebook\/u-n-investigators-cite-facebook-role-in-myanmar-crisis-idUSKCN1GO2PN\">substantively contributed to the level of acrimony and dissension and conflict<\/a>\u201d in Myanmar, the United Nations\u2019 independent fact-finder said in 2018, and social media played a \u201cdetermining role\u201d in the Rohingya genocide. In a statement from the company later that year, Facebook acknowledged that its product helped \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/11\/06\/technology\/myanmar-facebook.html\">foment division and incite offline violence<\/a>\u201d in Myanmar.<br \/>What might these scenarios look like in the metaverse? A study on \u201cvirtual reality gameplay,\u201d completed by Canadian researchers in 2020, concluded that \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s10055-020-00440-y\">for many users, the realness of the (virtual reality) experience intensifies negative emotions<\/a>.\u201d Combine this with a frank acknowledgment from a top Facebook executive that moderating how users speak and behave \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/d72145b7-5e44-446a-819c-51d67c5471cf\">at any meaningful scale is practically impossible<\/a>\u201d in the metaverse.<br \/>There is little question of the potential for technology to bring us closer together and to help us solve complex human issues. But given Facebook\u2019s difficulty with curbing anger among its users and avoiding damages to the social fabric, we should ask if they have the standing to design our digital future.<br \/>St. Ignatius reminds us that all created things can draw us either toward or away from God. Facebook served as a lifeline for many during the pandemic. It brought us closer together when we could not see one another at Mass. But social media is also the site of some of the church\u2019s worst disagreements and harshest anger.<br \/><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.americamagazine.org\/arts-culture\/2021\/10\/07\/faith-facebook-frances-haugen-congress-241595\">[Related: Three reasons the Catholic Church should fight to regulate Facebook]<\/a><\/strong><\/em><br \/>As a society, and often as individuals, we seem unable to break our addiction to anger, which encourages us to \u201clive off grievances,\u201d to borrow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2020\/11\/23\/938016396\/in-a-new-book-pope-francis-speaks-out-on-the-coronavirus-and-anti-mask-protests\">a term from Pope Francis<\/a> in his book <em>Let Us Dream<\/em>.<br \/>This anger is opposed to the message of Jesus. In Matthew\u2019s Gospel, Jesus uses the term \u201cmeek\u201d in both self-descriptive and instructive ways. Jesus identifies himself as \u201cmeek and humble of heart\u201d and directs followers to learn from this example. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says the blessed meek will \u201cinherit the land.\u201d<br \/>We often think of this meekness in the modern sense of being servile or weak, but the theological reality of meekness is the example of Jesus, who restrained himself under the provocation of his slanderous trial and humbled himself to die on the cross. Where anger might have seemed justified, Jesus repeatedly chose meekness.<\/p>\n<div class=\"contentBoxSmall relatedStory view view-related-content view-id-related_content view-display-id-default js-view-dom-id-f06b55cb08fbba64257e74d2abfec4dcbcd23f7232d73d5bd62cc09333bd7205\"><\/div>\n<p>Facebook instead enables the vice of wrath in ourselves. If we allow Facebook to design our future, we must be prepared for what we might receive: more division, more anger and less meekness. We hope to be among the meek who inherit the kingdom, but we risk being part of the angry who are inheriting the metaverse.<br \/><em><strong>[<\/strong><\/em><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/2039874489629187\/\">Want to discuss politics with other America readers? Join our Facebook discussion group, moderated by America\u2019s writers and editors.<\/a><\/strong><\/em><em><strong>]<\/strong><\/em><br \/>Will Garbe is a writer and former Jesuit novice. He worked as an investigative reporter for the Dayton Daily News and as a volunteer at Red Cloud Indian School in Pine Ridge, S.D. His work has been published in The Wall Street Journal, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Cincinnati Enquirer. He lives in Sylvania, Ohio.<br \/>Your source for jobs, books, retreats, and much more.<br \/>Copyright \u00a9 2021\u00a0America Press Inc. <span class=\"copyrightDivider hidden-xs\">|<\/span> All Rights Reserved.<br \/>Password reset instructions will be sent to your registered email address.<br \/><span>As a frequent reader of our website, you know how important <strong>America<\/strong>\u2019s voice is in the conversation about the church and the world. We can&rsquo;t do it without you\u2014America Media relies on generous support from our readers. Please visit our\u00a0<a href=\"\/membership\" style=\"font-size:19px\">membership page<\/a>\u00a0to learn how you can invest in our work by <a href=\"\/subscribe\" style=\"font-size:19px\">subscribing to the magazine<\/a> or <a href=\"\/donation\" style=\"font-size:19px\">making a donation<\/a>.<\/span><br \/><span>If you\u2019re already a subscriber or donor, <strong>thank you<\/strong>! If you login and register your print subscription number with your account, you\u2019ll have unlimited access to the website. Please contact us at <a href=\"mailto:members@americamedia.org\" style=\"font-size:19px\">members@americamedia.org<\/a> with any questions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.americamagazine.org\/politics-society\/2021\/11\/19\/facebook-metaverse-anger-meekness-241862\">source<\/a><\/p>\n<!--CusAds0-->\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Each day, Facebook amplifies anger around the world. And the company\u2019s own internal documents show how it seems unable or unwilling to fix the problem.\u201cAnger and hate is the easiest way\u201d to build a following on Facebook, company whistleblower Frances Haugen said last month in testimony before British lawmakers. \u201cThe current system is biased toward [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"googlesitekit_rrm_CAow1sXXCw:productID":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-classe"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}