Breach Bum

Facebook exposed 50,000,000+ users' personal data to the firm Cambridge Analytica which allegedly used it to influence a number of political outcomes including the UK's Brexit vote and the 2016 US election. This extraordinary carelessness and the bumbling reaction of Facebook's founder to it inspired Thomas Kerr to produce the following paean.

Zuckymandias

I met a web-surfer from an antique LAN,
Who said — “Two sneakered and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. … Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose glasses,
And curly red hair, and sneer of smug command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions face recognized
Which yet survive, stamped on social media,
The post that mocked them, and the 'like' that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Zuckymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Facebook, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

–– With apologies to Shelley ... none at all to Zuck

03/29/18