Johanna Faust, a mixed race Jew, prefers to publish pseudonymously. She is committed: first, to preventing war, ecological disaster, and nuclear apocalypse; last to not only fighting for personal privacy & the freedom of information, but, by representing herself as a soldier in that fight, to exhorting others to do the same. She is a poet, always. All these efforts find representation here: "ah, Mephistophelis" is so named after the last line of Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus, whose heretical success flouted the censor for a time.

DIS-INTER-Face-Book-MEDI-A-TION


Last Streetlamp Before The Long Dark Way -- a faustian original


or, Musings on the intersection of a certain social media website with the eagerly awaited, and hopefully inevitable, triumph of disintermediation over evil. A reasonably passionate and scarcely ranting faustian op-ed.


i understand that many find Facebook useful as a tool, and agree that organization in the face of the Panopticon, like living well, is a most excellent way to tell it to get fucked.  where i begin to object is to that organization happening primarily in that virtual environment, instead of a point being made to make the organizational center one that makes no assumptions of membership prerequisite to use, to full functionality.
First Streetlamps Marking The Way Back Home -- a faustian original
my objection to FB isn't (just) because of the ubiquitous and now (at last!) publicly acknowledged surveillance state.  not even primarily.  

it is, for me, an intuitive understanding of the unexamined and unrestrained use of such traitorous corporate bullshit. of the self loathing that is a predictable consequence.  of the alienation, the feelings of worthlessness and despair, the subliminal reinforcement of which is structurally built in, taken for granted, assumed, by anyone wanting to make use of this so called "tool."

what does it say to fully embrace social media that denigrates, disregards, and openly mocks those qualities of human communication, of the human spirit, that it cannot effectively monetize, influence, and/or control?

no, wait: it mocks those over which it does exercise control just as thoroughly. perhaps more so: if you are a faithful Facebook fan,  it mocks you, mocks your loyalty, and mocks love.

FB interposes its unique corporate fascist sickness between you and anything you desire; you can be sure it will squeeze between every single one of its users and any other thing whatsoever.

nor has there been, to my knowledge, an attempt made to disguise its unwavering and obvious original purpose (which was, may i add, a screaming success): an opt-in, always-on, depthless and fickle intermediation as useless as a form of true creative expression as it is a source of real nourishment.  

the medium is the message, yes?

at the perhaps excuseable age of nineteen, the ceo of FB called the very end users upon whose aggregate data he made several fortunes "dumb fucks." looking back on how his empire has... (progressed?  developed?) ...aged, i think we can safely remove that 'excuse' option.  clearly there will be no need. 





from "Whistleblower," from The Rap News by Juice Media.  See this whole episode here.


i realize i am ranting.  i feel, however, that rants such as this are needed.  every individual and unique soul's version of such a rant, displayed prominently wherever and whenever faces are booked, would be the beginning of a much needed healing.  

a counterweight. so we can open the windows.  so we can communicate freely.  so we can begin to refuse to be sold without our fully informed, self respecting consent.

Going Before The Break Of Day -- a faustian original



Be seeing you.