Jail Time

As I arrive at work, I go through my daily routine. I get to the building around 5:00 am every morning. Sometimes earlier and some days a few minutes later. I am naturally a morning person; everyone else in my family is not. The biggest advantage of getting an early start on the day is that the traffic is light. I have the building’s digital signage set to turn on automatically at 5:00 am, so I try to enter the building to see the TVs power up. Some days I make that goal, but most days I don’t. I have good friends and family who were the best-of-the-best Army attack helicopter pilots in the world, and one of the things they say is "Time on Target plus or minus 30 seconds." When you have that tight of a schedule, well, that makes you the best. The best I can do is that the time at Work is plus or minus 30 minutes. When you must drive Houston traffic, that is pretty good, just not the best of the best, like my friends are.

On the way to my desk on the fourth floor, I go into some of the conference rooms along the path and do a quick walk-through to see if anything needs attention. I power up the room’s computer so that when those I support show up, they don’t have to wait for the computer to boot. I arrive at my desk, take the laptop out of my backpack, unlock the drawers, and set the desk up for the day. While I wait for my laptop to boot up, I take the first sips of coffee. Boy, is that always good. The lights in the building don’t turn on until 6:00 am, so my first hour is in the dark, which I prefer. All is quiet.

Once the laptop is ready for the day, I tunnel into the digital signage computers to reboot those. Two computers run the system, and occasionally they install updates while rebooting. At this time of day, only the guards and a few early birds see those updating and booting up on the building's TVs. I go through my emails and respond to all of those. Most are for scheduling conference rooms, and others are business- or administrative-related. Once all of that is done, I check the news, most of which is depressing, showing how our country is regressing. I check the hurricane page to see what we need to be concerned about. Next, I check my website, www.bigdoggarage.com, where I have my car projects, other things. That website is getting so big, I think it is over 180 pages. Finally, I go to Facebook, but today it will not log in. What is the deal? It says, “If we find that your posts or comments didn't follow our Community Standards, your account will remain disabled. We're always looking out for the security of people on Facebook, so while your posts and comments are reviewed, you can't use Facebook.” What??? I think back to what I posted the day before. I cannot think of anything I posted that was against their standards.

Let’s see, I posted what I read in my daily devotional. There was a meme of the verse from the song “How Great Thou Art”. I wrote a couple of short things about what I did or experienced recently. I posted some cool car pictures. I think I made fun of Fords. (Never really cared for Fords, but I do respect some of the Mustangs) I posted some cool pictures of military aircraft that I found online. I posted some pictures of my dog and cats. I think I shared a post from the International Space Station.

I decided to read through the ‘community standards’ to get a clue as to why my account is locked down. They say not to post anything that incites violence, racial, bullying, or hate. I know I did not post anything like that. It went on to say, do not post firearms for sale unless you are a brick-and-mortar business. I know I did not post that. Do not post anything that is illegal drug-related. I know I did not post about that either. Do not post anything that is scam-related. I know I did not post that either. So I asked that they review my case, but I never heard back. They will not tell me what it was I posted or provide any avenue for defense.

It was either something about God, Cars, Airplanes, a funny meme, or pictures of my dog or cat. I have no idea since all they did was slam the door and go silent.

I have accounts on other social media platforms, so I log in to Instagram. I rarely, if ever, log into that account, so it was a learning curve for me. I have a few friends there that are also friends on Facebook, so I created a post announcing that I was in FB Prison. I get a few responses. The good thing about logging into that account is that I see a friend there who has abandoned Facebook for the same reason that I am here.

Later that day, I told my wife I was locked out of my FB account, took a screenshot of the message, and texted it to her. She posts a screenshot on her account and says I am in FB Jail. She later showed me a multitude of responses. I was glad to see the love and care for my situation. That evening, I got a text from the Pastor of our church, who recently retired, that says, “So you are in Facebook Jail? I have done jail ministry in the past, so if you need anything….” Reading that made my day!

I check my Facebook account at least once a day to see if I have been freed, but no luck. I had heard that social media targets those of us who are Conservatives with “fact-checking” and banning for periods of time. I now know that is true. I wish I could hear why I was locked out, but I guess it is the norm these days for those of us who believe in our Constitutional rights of free speech. I love God, the creator of all things; I love my country; I love my family; I love my job; I love our freedom to express ourselves; and I will not change for any political reason.

If I had to guess why I am locked out, I would say it is because I stand up for my Faith. Standing up for your faith these days is frowned upon by those who are not Christians. I have no hate or animosity against anyone for what they believe or what culture they descend from, only love for my fellow man as the Bible directs us to. If that is in fact why I am in FB Jail, then I will be in jail again, for I will not stop standing up for my Faith in God through Jesus Christ.

I agree with and support the Facebook Community Standards as written, but I believe they are being used as a tool to silence free speech. There is not one thing I can think of that I did to violate the standards as written. I wish we could defend ourselves, but since I am a Conservative Christian, they will not let that happen.

As for now, I am locked out of my Facebook account until Labor Day. I will spend the time I usually spend on FB in the mornings catching up on my writing. I will miss my friends, but I will see them again when I am allowed back on Facebook.