It’s National Boycott Facebook Day and nobody showed up. Most people didn’t show up for the boycott, that is.

I peeked in to see if The Mysterious Facebook People had actually done the “dang thang,” and it was simply a dull thud. If everyone else was gone, I was leaving for the day as well. But not. Bloggers, reporters, and “journalists” (even hack journos) can’t miss an opportunity to report the news anyway, but I was curious to see if it was going to happen.

Considering that the inability to “rally the online troops” pretty much means that the stand for Net Neutrality is dead, it also means that you will ultimately be pushed into the SLOW ACCESS LANE for a service that you, The Taxpayer, are already paying for.

The richer classes and corporations who pay more than you (???) will force you into the far right 40/mph (slow) lane on the Information Highway while they establish ownership of all the 85/mph left lanes for something you’re paying them to take from you.

If you can’t afford MORE SPEED and are only paying monthly to get online IF YOU CAN, you’re pretty much fried.

But John Q. Citizen, as usual, isn’t going to get a clue until it’s too late for anyone to care.

Yes, there is actually something that can be done now, but folks are asleep right now like the kind of sleep that was going on when Reagan and Clinton were running things in D.C.

Some of us have been trying to ‘Boycott Facebook’ (as a symbol of solidarity for American citizens who don’t think they should have to pay premium pricing for something they’re already paying for — double- and triple- ‘taxation without representation’) for a long time, but most of its users are addicted to it and won’t go.

Everyone else will tell you they don’t use it at all and don’t plan to. They’re already ahead of the game.

That said, for the addicts who know ‘Big Brother’ is tracking everything they do (true for most if not all social media, but I digress), here are some other GREAT places to hang out ONLINE – free or reasonably cheap.

Maybe you won’t be able to take yourself off the “YOU MUST PAY THE CORPORATE ENTITIES FOR WHAT THEY DON’T OWN” billing cycle before it happens because you choose to do so by not fighting against it en masse, but you don’t have to be anti-Facebook in order to be pro-Black:

 

1) Urban Intellectuals has a League of FORUMs for those who want to discuss everyday events and happenings in Black America without all the Facebook ‘noise.’ There are places to format and bring in and add all types of media – graphics and videos – and to think on a more intellectual level than many of us may have become accustomed to with all of the ratchetness on Facebook. And Urban Intellectuals won’t sell your soul (or your private information) out to the government for a “deal” like Mark Zuckerberg will do in a heartbeat.

2) DelphiForums has a FORUM-based Platform that in its past history has been known as one of the most racist ratchets in virtual digital mall chat town.

However, with my help (and a few others), the racemongering wolves over there finally backed down and acknowledged that if white people are allowed to have public displays of racism, we ought to be allowed to come in there and beat it with a stick; and we should. What you running for?

If you are Black Conscious, or even Black and Conscientious, visit PRIDE ROCK (formerly Rafiki’s House of Wisdom) on Delphi Forums. It’s been there for about ten years and counting, and as long as Delphi is around, so will be PRIDE ROCK – the Only Black Forum that kicked Delphi’s butts and wasn’t afraid to do it.

Delphi is overtly private and designed to be locked down for “group members only” if that’s what you want to do with it. They keep their Forum Owners hidden in their bosoms, literally, unless the government comes knocking on their brick and mortar doors with a written warrant in hand. Period.

The Platform is filled with all kinds of luscious bells and whistles for posts, pictures, videos, hyperlinks, alphanumeric formatting and LIVE private or public chatrooms, even Facebook/Twitter and insider FORUM promotion if you want to wean off of mainstream social media instead of just quitting cold turkey.

For the Low-Low, or completely Free if you don’t mind the ads.

3) HOURTIMENOW, developed by a young man named Joey White – don’t let the last name deceive you – has been online for quite some time now.

It’s all Black, all the time, and hosted on a service that is exclusive and private and easily defensible from ratchet people and snooping prying eyes as much as it can be in this day and age.

It is user-friendly and what you post is what you post, period. No need to worry about “the stuck on stupid” that comes automatically with high profile social media.

If you know of other Black-owned Black operated Forums, Groups and Chat Spaces where privacy is still taken seriously and net neutrality is vital to survival, feel free to tell us about them in the comments section below.