July 22, 2020 Issue, Page 4 of 8

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Page 4 The Elk City News, Elk City, Oklahoma Wednesday, July 22, 2020 Carlson and Duckworth Opinion Page “ElkCituNews - their first debate Serving Western Oklahoma since 1901 What a wonderful By Jay Ambrose, Tribune her as a possible running ing dead Confederates than She apparently is not world it would be ... News Service mate this year, and there is he did talking about the lives Tucker Carlson, a good- reason to clap: the political of our Americans” even ous threat to free speech in aware that the most seri- looking guy, bright, charm- demise of Elizabeth Warren though he never mentioned America today comes from if Facebook stopped ing and the most popular at- traction on cable TV, is also and Kamala Harris. She has had a vetting session with Confederates once. He did fret about anti-Americanism the leftists keeping conser- vative speakers away from running political ads politically incorrect enough Biden and, as an articulate while listing diverse person- universities, academic boss- to send big-time advertisers spokeswoman for rationally alities who helped define us, es telling scientists their re- fleeing purchases from his 4 indecipherable leftism, is such as Louis Armstrong. By Jon Healey, Los Angeles Times million nightly viewers.getting more attention, just The show’s hostess clearly search is ideologically amiss Facebook may finally stop lending its enormously pow- He sometimes goes be- lately an interview on CNN. wanted to get back to the and journalists being told to erful microphone and amplifier to deceitful politicians yond this defamed prefer- This is what got her in question of whether we are a go for a walk because of in- and manipulative campaigns. ence for frankness by turn- Carlson trouble, for she was heap of horror or an accumu- sufficient progressive bias. And in doing so, it would also block truthful candidates ing downright foul, and specifically asked whether a lation of blessings, and asked T am not thrilled by all of recently exercised this talent statue of George Washington again whether it was a “good Carlson’s work while also whoare just trying to correct the record, outline their poli- when he called Democratic should come down. idea” to take down statues appreciating his acute mono- cies or encourage people to get out and vote. Sen. Tammy Duckworth “Well, let me just say that of Washington. Duckworth logues and other fearless It’s a fair trade as far as I’m concerned. of Illinois a “moron” and a we should start off by hav- agreed he was not a traitor, Bloomberg's Kurt Wagner reported recently that offi- leaps. Right now he’s deal- “coward.” ing a national dialogue on it but said, “I think we should ing with the fact of a fired cials at the social networking giant were discussing a tem- He did not stop there on at some point,” she replied listen to everybody.” aide having written racist re- porary ban on political advertising to reduce the spread his Fox News commentary by way of political eva- Carlson then neglected marks, but understand, too, of misleading, questionable or false material on the site show, and Duckworth struck sion, obviously recognizing Washington’s celebrated les- sons in civility, saying this that a Politico article said in the run-up to the November election. The report came back. She is, after all, a tough there were voters out there two days after Facebook released a damning audit of its lady, an Army veteran who who would say yes, that this cowardly, moronic Duck- it’s conceivable that Carlson “reactive and piecemeal” efforts to keep its network free lost both legs when a rocket slave-owner is a symbol of worth hated America, caus- could be the GOP’s presi- of hate speech and voter suppression, among other objec- grenade slammed a helicop- ing her to reply, “Does he dential candidate in 2024. evil along with other voters ter she was flying in Iraq. recognizing heroic greatness want to walk a mile in my If old Joe Biden is elected tionable practices. This fact made Carlson’s that helped render a country legs and then tell me whether president and Duckworth Oh, and by the way, a small but growing number of name-calling seem particu- that Abraham Lincoln called or not I love America?” That is vice president, she could major advertisers are boycotting Facebook over a similar larly outrageous along with “the last, best hope of earth.” message was on Twitter, but easily be the Democratic set of issues. a fascinating life story of her It’s the case, too, that there then she wrote a New York presidential candidate _ in A ban would answer those complaints only where ad- having an American father has been a dialogue of sorts Times article that praised 2024. vertising by pols and their campaigns is concerned. But who was an Army veteran, by way of 900 biographies Washington, said she would This recent go-around it would relieve the company of the responsibility that childhood throughout south- and 5,000 scholarly papers, never topple his statues and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has famously resisted, east Asia, two graduate de- but she was anxious to slam said she would “fight to my could be the first of many grees, jobs with the Depart- President Donald Trump for last breath to defend every debates. which is to fact-check political ads the same way it does ment of Veterans Affairs, a July 4th speech that em- American’s freedom to have Jay Ambrose is an op-ed every other advertisement. Please, park your “censorship” complaints outside. Pols election to the House and phasized July 4th. his or her own opinion about columnist for Tribune News then to the Senate. She said he “spent more Washington’s flawed _his- Service. Readers may email and campaigns would presumably continue to be free to tory.” Joe Biden is considering time worried about honor- him at [email protected]. post whatever they feel like posting on their Facebook Taking matters into your own pages, and their followers could share and recirculate those posts to the four corners of the social network. All Facebook appears to be considering is a ban on candi- dates and campaigns paying to spread their messages to the users they target, with Facebook’s help, by location, gender, age, interests and a host of other personal factors. hands and fighting the coronavirus By Thomas W. Spoehr, That changes when seven of blood pressure by 4 to 9 can, why not us? ‘As the Cambridge Analytica scandal amply demon- The Heritage Foundation outsiders (led by Yul Bryn- mmHg - an improvement Experts report the risk of strated, such microtargeting helps advertisers train their COVID-19’s seemingly ner as gunslinger Chris Ad- that rivals that provided by catching COVID while out- messages on the people who'll be most susceptible to inexorable march across the ams) rally the citizens, train some medicines. side is lower than being in- them. In other words, it’s what helps direct deceptive ads country has many Ameri- them to shoot and proceed to Even if you don’t suffer side. Outside walking, run- away from the people who will view them critically and cans feeling helpless and set traps and arrange other from hypertension, obesity ning, yoga and body weight toward those who are most likely to be manipulated by hopeless. In surveys con- unpleasant surprises for the or cardiovascular disease, exercises are all activities them. ducted by the Census Bu- bad guys. When the outlaws exercise can boost your odds which, done correctly, can That’s why Google, to its credit, has banned micro- reau from June 18-23, 48% arrive, they are shocked by against COVID. Just moder- be safe and contribute to a targeting in political ads. Twitter went further, banning of respondents reported they the stout defenses. In the ate exercise has been proven healthier, more resilient pos- political ads outright. Facebook is now thinking about felt “down, depressed or end, the good villagers, to- to dramatically improve the ture for COVID. Parents, hopeless.” gether with the “Seven,” effectiveness of the body’s mentors and others in posi- following suit, although Wagner wrote that no decisions No wonder. For months triumph and the gang is van- immune system in dealing tions of influence should have been made. we've been bombarded non- quished. with disease, and that in- consider encouraging those Although a ban on political ads looks like a straightfor- stop with news stories of ris- So what does that have to cludes SARS-CoV-2, the vi- they care about to exercise ward solution, it’s a lot more complicated than it seems. ing case numbers and public do with our current predica- tus that causes COVID-19. and stay active. The biggest challenge is defining a political ad, given that service announcements ad- ment? The CDC reports that Unfortunately preliminary Even before COVID ar- there are plenty of gray areas. If the League of Women monishing us about masks, the most adverse effects of data suggest that, in this cri- rived at our doorstep, Amer- Voters wants to promote a video on how to register to hand-washing and social COVID are largely concen- sis, Americans are not get- ica was already facing a pub- vote, is that a political ad? (No.) If President Donald distancing. It would be easy trated among the elderly and ting more exercise. Time re- lic health crisis. Our country Trump wants to do the same, is that a political ad? (May- to conclude that all we can those who suffer from some ports that 3,000 adults who leads the world in obesity, be.) How about if Trump wants to urge people not to vote do is hunker down and pray chronic medical conditions. had been meeting exercise with 42.4% of adults con- that the coronavirus dies out We can’t do anything about guidelines before the pan- sidered obese. But working by mail? (Definitely) before we do. our age, but, just like the vil- demic, reported their physi- together, this problem can be Granted, Facebook is a big part of the internet advertis- But that would be the lagers in “The Magnificent cal activity had declined solved. ing ecosystem. But even without the social network, cam- wrong conclusion. Seven,” we can still fight by an average of 32%. And Just like the good citizens paigns up and down the ballot will spend billions of dol- One of Hollywood’s fa- back. those not meeting the guide- of that small Mexican vil- lars this year promoting their messages. Taking Facebook vorite scenarios presents us CDC case tracking shows lines pre-COVID were still lage, you too can choose to out of the equation removes one particularly pernicious with a handful of good guys, that among those hospital- not meeting them. not sit back and await the element - ads that are microtargeted - without stopping cut off from any prospect of ized for COVID, 54% were Other studies suggest seemingly inevitable. You campaigns from spending treasuries larger than Croesus” outside relief, bracing for an already suffering from hy- the drop-off in exercising can take matters into your on more conventional advertising. imminent attack from a sin- pertension, 49% were obese has been most pronounced own hands and prepare to That's one reason not to worry about Facebook’s ban ister and merciless horde. and 32% had cardiovascular among those living in urban fight this unsavory bandit, “The Magnificent Seven” is disease. Each of these condi- areas. Those in rural areas the unwelcome coronavirus, hitting honest campaign ads, too. I mean really, does any- a classic of this genre. In it, tions places a person at great- generally kept the same or when it arrives at your “vil- body think we don’t see and hear enough political ads on a gang of outlaws led by the er risk of hospitalization even in some cases increased lage.” And if nothing else, television, radio, billboards, mailers, buses and the like bandit Calvera (played con- from COVID. Fortunately their levels. you have a recommendation during campaign season? vineingly by Eli Wallach in there are steps individuals That makes sense. In cities for a film to stream during Critics of microtargeting say that it enables campaigns the 1960 version) is coming can take to ameliorate these where gyms have closed and your post-exercise recovery to quietly deliver different messages to different groups to terrorize a small Mexican preexisting conditions. sidewalks are narrow, it’s time. of voters, rather than having to appeal broadly to the elec- village. The Mayo Clinic has harder to get exercise. But Aretired Army Lieutenant torate as they do on TV and radio. That’s an alarming lack Knowing they are badly found that for those suffering not impossible. Each morn- General, Thomas W. Spoehr of transparency. outgunned, the frightened from hypertension, becom- ing, my 70ish neighbor rises is director of The Heritage Getting Facebook out of the game wouldn’t end that townspeople feel the situa- ing just moderately active before dawn and sets off on Foundation’s Center for Na- practice, but it would remove one of the main outlets for tion is hopeless. can reduce their top number a brisk 3-mile walk. If she tional Defense. it. Jon Healey is the deputy editorial page editor, writing most often about Congress and healthcare. He has been Have a letter to the editor to share? with the Los Angeles Times since 2000, covering technol- ogy news before joining the Opinion section. Send your letter to the editor to [email protected]