A couple of weeks ago, Facebook was called out for allegedly being biased against conservative topics in their "trending" section. But bias isn't just about blatantly omitting certain stories from being told; it also covers how stories are presented when they're told.
One of Tuesday's big national stories was that the Senate did not approve any of the four gun bans or regulations that had been brought to the floor for a vote. Two were proposals from Republicans, with one calling for an increase in funding for the national background check system and the other for a review process that would keep people on the terrorist watch list from buying a gun.
The other two proposals were from Democrats calling for a complete ban on the sale of guns to people on the terrorist watch list.
All four bills failed to get the 60 votes necessary to pass from the Senate to the House.
But Facebook, in their "trending" section, announced that one of the trending hashtags was #DisarmHate, a hashtag used by people showing their support for gun restrictions.
Facebook describes the hashtag as “being used to encourage U.S. senators to Support Gun Safety Measures.”
Hold on. One reason English is incredibly difficult is because two similar words can convey two very different emotional reactions in the reader. If I call a fruit "rotten," that causes a strong reaction of disgust in the reader. If I call a fruit "overripe," that word does not carry the harsh connotation that “rotten” does.
The same is true when it comes to gun control. Those who want to sensationalize certain rifles use terms like "military grade" weapons, "assault" or "AR-15- style." Others who want to just state the facts refer to them as semi-automatic weapons with a large magazine.
Language regarding gun control measures is no different. Those looking to implement gun bans put a good spin on it, calling them "gun violence prevention laws," or, in Facebook's case, "gun safety measures."
Be it intentional or not, Facebook seems to be supporting gun control by using those terms.
Let's get this straight. A "gun safety measure" is the practice of handling a gun with care and using it safely to ensure that nothing bad happens. Preventing certain guns from being sold to individuals is a gun ban.
Call it what it is.