Here is what we know:
1 ) It’s not okay to profit on the words and phrases owned by someone else.
2) This is our favorite hefty Outlander sweatshirt:
3) Just kidding about #2.
4) Most of the sites we know of being shut down were NOT selling or promoting unauthorized stuff, but some of their fans were posting it.
5) Sony was using a company called Counterfind to search for sites illegally using their copyright, and we can assume Counterfind runs on artificial intelligence (AI) which doesn’t necessarily have the ability to differentiate between that one OUTLANDER FANS WHO LIVE BREATHE SLEEP OUTLANDER group and the Outlanders Lovers this site, that, as of publishing time, still has not been shut down by Sony/Counterfind and seems to show up in my Facebook ads every day:
(By the way- that ad linked to the yellow hefty sweatshirt above and not an opportunity to buy Sam Heughan)
6) It’s VERY possible the OUTLANDER FANS AND FRIENDS FOR LYFE group was shut down be cause it’s admins are US-based and “BUY MY SHITTY UNLICENSED OUTLANDER STUFF” (see image/site above) is not US-based and therefore big corporate scary rules don’t apply.
There. Now you’re caught up on the Outlander fandom news you didn’t know you needed to know.
At the same time, in our “real world news” hour:
There is a lot of talk in media right now about the responsibility of Facebook, Google and Twitter to shut down fake news, to monitor content and censor, in some way, the content being shared by users of their platforms.
There was a story on my favorite morning podcast THE DAILY from The New York Times on Tuesday 11/14 about a ET Williams, “The Doctor of Common Sense” who rants conspiracy theories in YouTube videos. The reporter, as good investigative reporters from The New York Times do, reached out to Google to get their side of the story about You Tube creators like Mr. Williams. The reporter never got a response from Google, but the next day, all of ET Wiliam’s videos were gone and the response from Google was that he was removed for violating their “Hate Speech” policy.
I’m personally glad. He was putting lies out there.
But, was that the right response to someone sprouting off conspiracy theories? (Side note: The New York Times podcast did not talk about ET Wiliams in terms of his hate speech, so I’m not aware of that side of things. All I heard were his crazy conspiracy theories, so that’s what I’m basing this question on. Anything hateful towards a person or group of people needs to be shut down, no questions asked.) Should a conspiracy theorist be taken down from his platform? And was ET Williams only taken down because The New York Times was asking Google about it?
Okay now back to Outlander. Yes, there is a way these two connect:
Big corporation (in this case Sony) is going after sites to protect their copyright. The AI they are using to track things down can’t differentiate between fans on a page posting and the group admins themselves, the conversations that are “approved” and those comments just made by fans chatting about a show (and a product they love). Half of these groups are private forums where you have to ask to join. They are places where, until an admin comes in and shuts it down, people sell things peer to peer- whether or not they have the legal right to advertise that they love THIS camp chair vs. THAT camp chair for set stalking and line waiting.
Where is the line here? Can you put a joke about Outlander things on a T-shirt and sell it? Can you put “Lassies of Lexington who love Outlander” on a belly bag and have a fundraiser for testicular cancer?
At the same time, people are starting to question if You Tube, Facebook and Twitter should censor their users. Should people have to be verified “journalists” to talk about news and make videos? Should pages that share opinions on news (like That’s Normal does) have to show some official journalistic standards? Maybe. I’d have no problem proving that just because I write funny, snarky things, I’m still a legit writer. I know how to ask professional questions and interview subjects and source content . I can proof read (and hell, if you could make money in this industry, I’d hire someone to do that much better than we do) and edit the hell out of a featured image and tell the story we’re writing on the blog on social media. If that doesn’t make a legitimate journalist, I don’t know what does. Just because there’s not a big fancy name and corporate office with an expensive conference table doesn’t mean the things we do and talk about and share here on That’s Normal is Fake NEWS. However… could it look that way? Because we’re silly and make jokes and talk a lot about how hot guys are on Mondays?
Sure. It could- if that’s how we start to view and censor media, groups and the things people say and do on the big social media sites.
I’m all for shutting down haters. And when it comes to things that matter (like, our country, ya know?), I want the Alex Jones of the world who are spouting their conspiracy hate (he’s the one who thinks the government planned the Sandy Hook massacre. Great guy) shut down because people BELIEVE him, and he’s part of the reason why our country is so divisive today. And I bet there is someone on the left who is equally as dangerous. I expect the places that do post news: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Breitbart and Fox News, to source their stories, vet their talking heads and share more facts and less opinions. Imagine if every day on That’s Normal we had a a headline:
SAM HEUGHAN IS GAY! WE HAVE THE POOF !!!
And then we zoom in on images of him and Tobias where his hand is just slightly lower than normal on the small of Tobias’ back (WE GET IT SAM). Or
OUTLANDER HAS ITS BIGGEST WEEK YET WITH 30-40 YEAR OLD MEN !!!
And quote a handful of the That’s Normal team member’s husband’s and partners (mostly just Blurtlander talking about how he’ll never finish season 1) as proof the show is growing in that demographic.
Some people might think we’re crazy. And others would believe us because if it’s writing that’s what people start to do.
So to recap:
Don’t sell shirts like this on Facebook:
(just send them directly to my house at 100 Main Street Philadelphia, PA)
And fight back with big corporations trying to squash things without having the facts.
Don’t listen to conspiracy theorists and question when you hear something that seems a bit out there or doesn’t have proof and sources to back it up:
And be skeptical of censoring social media. But also recognize… it might be where we’re going. And we might not be able to do anything about it.
