Swatting at the Bee

God calls us to be vigilant and gives us the capacity to keep our focus on Him.  Romans 13 cautions
us to be aware of the trends of this world and to stand strong in Him:
12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.
13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.
14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

We see that reference to the "armor of light," denoting strength and protection.  Ephesians 6 tells us about the full armor of God.  We are engaged in spiritual warfare, but God has given us powerful, spiritual weapons through which we can experience His victory.  We know that we will encounter opposition, but we can possess the attitude that we will be faithful to God, no matter what.  We can rely on His strength and not our own.

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The Israelites were called to a rather daunting task - to restore the wall of Jerusalem, while facing the taunting of those who did not want to see the work completed.  The people of Israel exercised vigilance and unity, according to Nehemiah chapter 4:
17 Those who built on the wall, and those who carried burdens, loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon.
18 Every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side as he built. And the one who sounded the trumpet was beside me.
19 Then I said to the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the people, "The work is great and extensive, and we are separated far from one another on the wall.
20 Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us."

For some, it might be required reading; for others, it may be an acquired taste.  While I don't think that the website hits on all cylinders all of the time, at least the Babylon Bee, a Christian satire site, usually gives you something to think about, maybe chuckle, and perhaps even to LOL - laugh out loud!

And, sometimes, it communicates truth in a profound way.  Take, for instance, Monday's story, of which the headline proclaimed, "Man Who Got Famous Showing Scantily Clad Women Bouncing On Trampolines Lectures Nation On Sexual Propriety."  This was a less satirical and more biting criticism, but it drove the point home about Oscar host Jimmy Kimmel, the former co-host of The Man Show, which "featured heavy handed, vulgar objectification of women carried out in front of a crazed, drunken, slobbering male audience."

Well, the Bee was the victim of social media censorship the other day.  After running an obviously satirical story about CNN, the site was flagged as...wait for it..."fake news!"  The Federalist ran a story that said:

The Babylon Bee set off Facebook’s alarm bells by publishing a satirical piece stating that CNN had purchased an “industrial-size washing machine to spin news before publication.” This is obviously a joke and is clearly marked satire and is published on a site entirely devoted to satire. 

But Snopes, according to the story, "decided to fact check the Bee’s claim, to ensure that no one actually thought that CNN 'made a significant investment in heavy machinery.'"

The story continues:

Hours later, Adam Ford, who runs The Babylon Bee, got a notification warning him that the post had been flagged as so-called “fake news” by Snopes, and that if it happened again, the Bee’s Facebook page could face de-monetization and its posts would suffer a reduced reach.

Furthermore, readers were greeted by this message in a pop-up window: “Before you share this content, you might want to know that there is additional reporting on this from Snopes.com."

The Federalist story also says:

Facebook has since apologized for the actions it took towards the Bee, according to The Daily Caller News Foundation.

“There’s a difference between false news and satire,” the social network said in a statement to DCNF. “This was a mistake and should not have been rated false in our system. It’s since been corrected and won’t count against the domain in any way.”

In other words, Facebook is saying: Lol, sorry we threatened y’all with de-monetization. We like, totally didn’t mean it. But you can be sure that when we do mean to sandbag you, IT WILL BE SWIFT AND SEVERE.

Facebook’s statement, however well intended, doesn’t undo what happened to the Bee, nor does it erase the very serious and frightening implications of the social network’s power over information. In April, the social network announced it would let troll mobs decide what is and what isn’t fake news. A few months later, Facebook announced it would block ads from users it thinks are sharing “fake news.”

The article pointed out that Snopes "has repeatedly fact-checked tongue-in-cheek claims by the satirical site..."

I featured an interview a few months ago with Rachel Alexander of The Stream, reporting on Internet censorship.  And, just last week, Jerry Johnson, President of National Religious Broadcasters, spoke about Internet Freedom Watch, an initiative of NRB, at its annual convention.  He stated, according to NRB.org:

“Does it bother you that Dr. D. James Kennedy was taken off of the Amazon [Smile] gift program?” Johnson asked. “Does it bother you that a sitting member of the U.S. Congress, Marsha Blackburn, was taken off of Twitter when she announced her run for the U.S. Senate because she mentioned the sale of human body parts?

“Does it bother you that Dennis Prager’s videos – videos on Israel for instance – have been blocked and taken down and demonetized by YouTube? Does it bother you that Todd Starnes has been taken off of Facebook? Marjorie Dannenfelser has been taken off of Twitter.”

Prager, who is Jewish, as well as Blackburn, Starnes, and Dannenfelser, along with talk show host Larry Elder and Family Research Council President Tony Perkins were among speakers addressing the issue at NRB, according to the organization's website.  Perkins said, "If we don’t use every tool available to push back on the Left’s intent of silencing Christian broadcasters and conservative broadcasters, we are going to wake up one day and free speech in America is going to be gone,” adding, “It is time to roll up our sleeves and fight for the first freedom that we as Americans enjoy.”

The Babylon Bee, one might say, was only satire, and the story was not really a "Christian" story, but it does seem that it has been singled out.

The Bee satirized the incident in a story last Friday, stating:

Facebook, Inc. sent a personal message Friday to each publisher using its service, warmly reminding them that they are utterly dependent on the social media giant for traffic and that it is in complete control of their livelihood.

“Publishers are important to Facebook,” the message sent to countless page admins read. “We want you to know that we care about you. Also, we will not hesitate to choke off your traffic until your organization ceases to be financially viable, should we feel the desire to do so at any time.”

I thought of the people of Israel, according to the book of Nehemiah.  They used one hand to build the wall of Jerusalem and the other to ward off those that would want to thwart the process.  With regard to social media, I think there is a similar construct: we use social media to "build" the Kingdom of God, to communicate truth, but we also recognize that there are providers who may not be neutral actors - we have seen where certain platforms have attempted to restrict messages from people and organizations of faith.

The people responded by continuing to build the wall, while being ready to defend themselves - and there was communication, in the form of a trumpet that sounded to remind the people that God was with them.  I am thankful for those who stand watch, like NRB, who "sound the trumpet" to protect our freedoms and to ensure that people of faith are allowed to freely share the life-affirming truth of the gospel.  We do well to stay informed and to encourage one another as we contend for the faith in a culture where there are pockets of hostility.