And since I’ve been without an internet connection for the past week, I’ve been isolated from current events and pretty much have no idea what’s going on in the world. So I’m going to pull the ultimate cheesy desperation move; the weapon of last resort for many an uninspired blogger. I’m going to write about Facebook.

There are two things that are bugging me about Facebook right now. The first problem – and I’m far from the first person to say this – is the madcap proliferation of applications. This may seem like a strange thing for someone with self-professed libertarian leanings to say, but Facebook’s big advantage has always been its comparative lack of freedom. It forced everyone to keep their pages attractive and uncluttered. But now that applications have arrived, I can’t seem to visit anyone’s page without being visually assaulted by space-wasting widgets like “the fortune cookie”, “the magic 8-ball”, zombies, werewolves, ninjas, pirates, clipart “gifts”, “hotlists”, “moods”, “top friends”, and other useless junk. Facebook desperately needs to start vetting applications to weed out the stupid ones. If not, their core audience of college-educated users will eventually get tired and move on.

The second problem is far less serious from the perspective of the overall network, but more of an affront to my personal worldview, and that is the fact that all my friends seem to be joining feel-good groups with names like “Save the Polar Bears” or “Real Men Don’t Rape”. I refuse to join such groups on principle: not because I’m in favour of rape or the extinction of polar bears, but because I’m simply too much of a heartless realist to even pretend that joining a group on Facebook is going to make the smallest difference to the cause. Besides, being opposed to rape is pretty much the least controversial stance on any issue imaginable, and I can’t help but feel a small surge of annoyance toward people who stand up and announce that they’re “anti-rape” as though they deserve credit for taking a brave stand on a controversial issue.