Above / Though signs throughout the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina remind visitors to “Beware of active bears,” this meandering fuzzy woolly bear caterpillar reminded us of “Nobody Likes Me” during a recent getaway atop iconic Grandfather Mountain. (PN Photo)
Old childhood song, ‘Nobody Likes Me,’ inspires new thoughts
The words to the verses featured below were inspired by the childhood song, “Nobody Likes Me (Guess I’ll Go Eat Worms).”
But first, let us set the scene with the sound of the song…
When Positively Naperville began participating in social media a decade ago, we welcomed all the “likes.” Over time, and with a self-imposed social media time limit of 15 minutes, we observed that our aim to focus on the bright side of life—celebrating our city’s rich history, cultural events and charity benefits—had not been “liked” necessarily by high-tech/big tech platforms for several years. More and more, we noticed our posts were suppressed. Friends said our posts rarely showed up in their Facebook newsfeed.
As a very small independently-owned family business, we have shared our social media publishing woes and experiences regarding blocked posts for a number of years at in-person local meetings with other small businesses as well as with family and friends. At times, other local business owners have disregarded, even disputed and doubted our claims, that we know to be true.
No matter. We simply spend our time with our website, saving stories, photos and posts for perpetuity in the cloud, happy to have thousands of visitors every day who spend several minutes checking what’s new. Other visitors use our “search” feature and have been known to spend an hour or two checking out posts saved in our archive.
And, of course, thanks to everyone who sponsors and contributes to our print publication, 25,000 complimentary copies of PN are available in print every month, too.
Unfortunately, our small-business experiences on social media, ones that could be considered a form of censorship, are now being shared by a large, 200-plus-year-old publication in New York City, established in 1801 by Federalist and Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. Oh! The history of it all!
And we find more and more how much we appreciate our dedicated followers who sign up for our Daily Square-Scoops, published online almost daily on the internet.
Nobody ‘Likes’ Us
Nobody likes us, social media blocks us,
Guess we’ll go eat worms!
Big fat juicy ones, itzy, bitzy, fuzzy ones
Oh! how they do squirm!
[Verse 1]
First came “patriotism,” then came “Americanism.”
Oh, how we strived to post.
Then they blocked the first one, tried to hack the second one
Suppressing us the most.
[Chorus]
Nobody likes us, social media blocks us,
Guess we’ll go eat worms!
Big fat juicy ones, itzy, bitzy, fuzzy ones
Oh! how they do squirm!
[Verse 2]
Are they big platforms, acting as publishers?
Where’s our freedom of speech?
Big tech seems controlling, blocking, blocking, blocking,
Friends we’re trying to reach.
[Chorus]
Nobody likes us, social media blocks us,
Guess we’ll go eat worms!
Big fat juicy ones, itzy, bitzy, fuzzy ones
Oh! how they do squirm!
First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Thanks for reading!
One more thing…
One final thought is that, of course, we’re mindful of great advances that technology has developed to make our world a better place. For instance, much progress has been advanced to identify and cure deadly cancers and even to fast track the development of vaccines and therapeutics to fight coronavirus.
Great gains have been made with high technology that gives youngsters with autism the opportunity to better communicate with resources such as chrome books. Furthermore, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is a type of assistive technology that can benefit individuals with autism of all ages by expanding communication and increasing social interactions that help promote independence.
What a contrast to note how much public good technology can achieve for physical health when compared to how addictive behaviors are apt to arise when too much tech begins to control minds. Electronic devices used too often impact mental health and addiction via social media, especially in adolescents. That’s a whole other story that ironically is featured in many medical journals online.
What if we all used more of our time to seek solutions? Perhaps find ways to limit our time on social media and instead search for facts from reliable sources to create a better world. Consider that much of the time spent on social media is gone forever. And as PN considered in its October 2020 commentary, “Who do you trust?”
Search for the truth and the facts. Always consider a wide range of sources.
Again, thanks for reading. —PN
This American Dagger caterpillar (Acronicta americana), aka “the stinging hair caterpillar,” was spotted along the beautiful Riverwalk a couple years ago. The pretty bright yellow caterpillar is capable of causing severe stings because its hairs are connected to poison sacs that inject toxins. Simply stay clear of them. Similar to some posts on social media, they aren’t good to like!
Subsequent Verses…
[Verse 3] (Added after Senate Hearing, Oct. 28, 2020)
Tech chiefs square off, Senators question
Bias that’s front and center.
Discontent is elevated, methods are well debated,
Focused on the inventor.
[Chorus]
[Verse 4] (Added after Senate Hearing, Oct. 28, 2020)
Inconsistent positions, on-the-run changes,
Prevent speech they don’t like.
Do they make the rules up, every other minute?
Challenging staff to take a hike.
[Chorus]
[Verse 5] (Added after April Fool’s Day 2021)
[Chorus]
Nobody likes us, social media blocks us,
Guess we’ll go eat worms!
Big fat juicy ones, itzy, bitzy, fuzzy ones
Oh! how they do squirm!
