We, none of us, become radical political activists by passively click “like” on a Facebook post. There are, of course, more devoted Facebookians, who do so much more than merely clicking “like;” some agent provocateurs of the Facebook ilk go so far as to click “like,” and write a comment. Something like: “There in spirit. If only the Gilmore Girls were not on tonight.” If such a commitment does not change the world, then, seriously, nothing will. And of course, there are even more passionate activists, ones who click “like,” leave a comment, AND go so far as to share the post on their very own Facebook page. The next thing you know such Facebookians will be storming the barricades. (Gentle reminder, the word activist in English means to get the f*ck off the sofa, walk out the front door, and step into the mud of the world. That is, get thee to a barricade, and storm it.)

More often than not, we click “like” so that we can feel good about ourselves, perhaps even feel like we have done something, or we click “like” so that others can see that we like what they like, and so that we can agree that we think alike, and, because we think alike, we can stay Forever Facebook Fiends (Yes, I know you think that I missed a typo, silly you.), and so that everyone can see that we are ever so progressive with our like-clicking.

In fact (in the fact of being there in reality, without pulling Keanu Reeves into this conundrum), we are nothing more than Pavlov’s dog, obediently obeying and responding to what is placed in front of us, and only what is placed in front of us, and we promise never to question how what got placed in front of us got placed in front of us, and we promise to never question our own implications of us being a member of the they that we want to blame for what we ourselves have created.

We are not victims of they. We enable they.

And, what is placed in front of us, and what passes as politics, or as knowledge worthy of reflection, is frightening.