INTERNET MESSAGE BOARDS CAN THEY BE TRUSTED? While posting on a vacation message board for St. John, Virgin Islands yesterday, I was referred to as a troll and compared to looters in Louisiana. Being called names in The Virgin Islands, especially from someone from St. John is par for the course. Even when the topic and postings disappeared, from the VI Now Message Board, I was not surprised. The VI Now Message board seems not to be intended for just anyones comments. Like most communications in The Virgin Islands, they are censored. In anticipation of the message board being erased, I copied both pages, viewable now from my web site. Past and future USVI Vacationers come to the VI Now Message Board for the truth about what is happening in The Virgin Islands, not propaganda from condo owners looking for guest. There is a communications monopoly in The Virgin Islands. When the people with access to outgoing news control the outgoing news, its censorship. I was not surprised to find the pages had been erased, the topic was Racial Tension On St. John. I shared the missing pages with a woman who was also reading the postings on the VI Now Message Board, she sent E-Mail, and she wasnt the only person I sent the missing pages to. The Wall Street Journal calls corruption in The Virgin Islands the major problem. Now the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department are investigating hate crimes on The Love Island St. John. This was not the first message board with advertisers disguised as common folk. My name and one of my books is mentioned on a Skincare Rx Message Board, but I was not allowed to post. It seems you have to be an advertiser to post on a message board for people trying to get rid of melasma and acne. I say that Im not surprised, but I am afraid. Im afraid we are losing our access to the true news because advertisers and corporations own our communications outlets, even the ones on the Internet. When my father visited me here in St. Thomas he asked me, Where are the Polynesians I saw in the travel magazines about The Virgin Islands? I said dad, The Virgin Islands is 85% African Descendants, there are no Polynesians. The people that control the Message Boards in The Virgin Islands dont want prospective vacationers to St. John to know that the FBI and the Justice Department are investigating hate crimes. And the cosmetic companies dont want you to know that you can get rid of melasma for less than $10.00 a month, instead of several hundred dollars a year. Message Boards, can they be trusted? |
