Checking in at Standing Rock

The first I saw of this check in at Standing Rock facebook wave, which is kind of a cool thing because fuck the police, it was from somebody I was pretty sure was not in the U.S. and thought “Wait a minute, I’m sure he’s in Prague, and he just got back from the U.S. a month or so, he wouldn’t have gone AGAIN” and then my second thought was “What a poser, pretending to be somewhere he’s not” and then I started seeing it from everybody, and the rationale behind it.
But, I didn’t know how to do it. So, I asked. And somebody told me. And my knowledge of how to use Facebook is somewhat increased, that is my one thing for today in the ‘learn something new every day’ game, which I am all in favor of elevating from ‘trite phrase’ to ‘actual thing’ status.
Another thing I learned today is that some of my students at the Anglo-German Business Academy where I’m subbing for a few weeks are totally racist. We had a discussion on how to solve the problem of overpopulation and every other answer started with “Kill all the….” And they thought they were being funny.
Anyway, Standing Rock. It’s a great idea, if the cops are going to be searching Facebook to harass people, we might as well mess with them. It’s sort of an “I’m Spartacus!” moment.
Generally, though, the knowledge of how to mark your location is of little interest to me and I’m not likely to start using it in normal circumstances. When I see people posting “I’m eating a sandwich at Bob’s Sandwich Bar” I’m not generally too interested unless it’s somebody I actually know and maybe Bob’s Sandwich Bar is a place I’ve actually been. It’s harmless enough, like cats or kids, but not really a conversation starter, not something that’s going to change my life.
Standing Rock is another matter entirely.