Kate Mahar
How is it that five minutes after I check out hotels on www.hotels.com, Facebook posts it on my news feed to give me another chance to book that room? Mind you, I do not follow www.hotels.com. However, my friend Fred does. So it shows up as “Fred likes . . . “ and then there’s a post showing the hotel in Auckland I’m thinking about booking for my son in August.
What the hell, Facebook? I’m sure someone could explain to me how this works – not that I’d 100% get it, mind you – but I still think it’s creepy. And this happens to me all the time, as I suspect it must to you and everybody else on Facebook. Looking at refrigerators at Lowe’s? Well, son of a gun. There’s an ad for Lowe’s refrigerators on your Facebook page the next time you check in hoping for another cats-scared-by-cucumbers video.
On the right of the Facebook news feed is a column called “Trending.” Now, I’m under the impression, though perhaps incorrectly, that what you see and what I see in that column may differ, as well. Is that true? Anybody? Anybody? Bueller?
If it is true, then I have no idea why Facebook would share that particular batch of “trending” informational links with me. I have given them no reason to believe I care about how Britney Spears looks in her bikini while on vacation somewhere or other. I don’t care. Swear to God. Stephen Colbert making fun of Sarah Palin? Maybe. I’ll give them that. But Britney or Real Housewives or the Kardashians (are they all related somehow?)? Nope. I will not be clicking on those links. Never. How can Facebook be so right about Lowe’s and so very wrong about “news?”
However, there was one piece of “trending” information I wanted to share today. Did you know that R. Kelly questions the veracity of testimonies of the legion of women who accused Bill Cosby of sexually assaulting them?
I have several problems with this trending news, Facebook.
First, who is R. Kelly?
Okay. So I looked him up and the GQ article called him “a singer who catapulted to fame in the 90’s and 2000’s with songs like Bump and Grind and Ignition.” I’m going to go out on a limb here and say those songs may not survive the test of time. I didn’t know about R. Kelly or his music, but then, I’m old and hip hop and rap just don’t appeal to me. I do, however, like the Black Keys and Arctic Monkeys, to name a few, so I’m not totally trapped in a 60’s time warp, if I do say so.
Second, why is R. Kelly considered any kind of expert on the Cosby allegations and why would GQ even ask him?
Well, I discovered that it came up in the interview because R. Kelly himself has been accused of child pornography and other sexual mishaps, shall we say. At the big trial addressing whether or not he had sex with a 14-year-old girl in one of his music videos, Kelly was found not guilty when the main witness refused to testify. In fact, Kelly settled a number of other charges of alleged sexual relations with minors out of court, but not surprisingly, he claims that they all were lying.
Okay. Fine. Not my story today.
What is interesting – and amusing – to me is what Kelly reportedly said, in reference to the Cosby horror show, “When I look on TV and see the 70-, 80-, 90-year-old ladies talking about what happened when they were 17, 18, or 19, there’s something strange about it.” He also stated, “If God showed me they were telling the truth, I would say that’s wrong.”
I’m not sure I saw anyone on TV in her 80s or 90s, since Cosby did prefer them young, but what our friend R seems unable to grasp is that one day the little hotties he’s chasing today will be, God willing, in their 70s, 80s and 90s, too. There have been hotties since the world began. Just the outfits and hair styles have changed. Well, and morals may flex from one decade to another.
As for God communicating directly with R. Kelly – no comment.
While I don’t understand how they do it, I do understand why Facebook wants to show me hotel rooms and refrigerators and such. What I don’t understand is why Facebook or any other entity in the free world, for that matter, would be interested in whether or not R. Kelly thinks Bill Cosby was a dickwad who drugged and raped a bunch of women. Is it somehow relevant that one dickwad is expressing solidarity with another one? Now, if Pope Francis thinks Bill couldn’t have done it, I might be willing to reconsider.
I don’t CARE what R. Kelly thinks, Facebook. Nor do I care what Britney Spears wore to the beach or who Khloe Kardashian is dating. If you are in any way tailoring your trending news to my tastes, you are way off the mark. Just wanted to let you know.
And while I’m at it, would Yahoo! please stop calling that crap on its home page “news?” Vicki What’s-her-face from the “Real Housewives of Orange County” is usually the lead story. Seriously?
And I’ll stop here before I’m tempted to take a crack at Fox News.