Earlier this week, I announced on Instagram that I was basically fed up with the platform. The endless “suggested posts” and advertising that I never asked for have bombarded my feed for a long time now. The most egregious offense is the lack of engagement I have experienced with my posts. My account, for whatever reason, has been shadow-banned. Wikipedia has a better definition of this phenomenon than I could ever devise:
Shadow banning, also called stealth banning, hellbanning, ghost banning, and comment ghosting, is the practice of blocking or partially blocking a user or the user's content from some areas of an online community in such a way that the ban is not readily apparent to the user, regardless of whether the action is taken by an individual or an algorithm.
In my case, it has felt as if my posts have been suppressed to the point that only a small number of people actually see them. Meanwhile, Instagram employs every trick in the book to keep my attention and eat up as much of my time as possible. This is an uneven exchange at best, and I am over it.
Starting last Wednesday, on Valentine’s Day, I started to transform my Instagram account into one that is solely focused on social justice issues and activism. The ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza being perpetrated by Israel and the US government will be my primary focus for now. In the future, I plan on posting about LGBTQ rights, climate change and climate justice, pro-choice/abortion rights, and immigrant rights.
If Instagram will suppress posts about my life, music, and creative work, then all of my best work will be featured everywhere else but there. Instead, they will get my loud and boisterous advocacy. To build on a classic cliche, if life gives you lemons, make lemonade, drink a lot of it, and piss all over the place until someone notices.
This means that here on WPR, my website, Facebook, and a couple of newer platforms, I am going to share an even greater abundance of the beauty, love, and joy that exists in my life.
Like this . . .
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And this . . .
And of course, this . . .
Yeah, I am a little mad about all this Instagram nonsense, but when I get mad, I simply get better.
So please, enjoy all the heaps of sweet sounds, colors, and joyfulness coming your way.
It’s time to make some lemonade.
PS: So many of you have watched my Vampire music video, and I am SOOOO grateful!
I have put a TON of energy into this song and music video. It would mean the world to me if you can share it with friends and on social media. Here are links you can copy and paste:
YouTube: https://youtu.be/dagETLM1b78
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/music-video/vampire/1724655636
Tidal Video: https://tidal.com/browse/video/338777907
You can hear my new song, Vampire, on every major streaming platform including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Tidal.
Give it a listen, share it, and add it to a playlist if you want. Search for Roqué Marcelo or visit any of the following links:
Spotify
Apple Music
Tidal
Amazon Music
Deezer
Other music sites where you can hear it include Anghami, MediaNet, Boomplay, Instagram/Facebook, Adaptr, Flo, iHeartRadio, Claro Música, iTunes, Joox, KKBox, Kuack Media, NetEase, Qobuz, Pandora, Saavn, Tencent, TikTok/TikTok Music/Resso/Luna, and Yandex Music (beta).
I had some quiet solitude earlier this week. As a certified introvert, this is something I need to have on a regular basis. A friend of mine asked if I could house-sit and care for her dogs while she went out of town for a couple of days. I was happy to oblige. After the exhausting frenzy of a recent Florida trip, I had not had proper down time yet, and if I have learned anything in life, I understand now that one’s body, mind, and spirit must always take time to rejuvenate, restore, and revive itself. Life gets mucky without doing so.
At the outset, it looked like I was bored out of my mind, but no—lounging on a couch and staring at the ceiling allowed me to get lost in my imagination. I watched snow melt outside a window. I ate the comfort food of my motherland, a soup called Sinigang (it is the flavor of home, and I made it just like my mom taught me). I enjoyed stretches of time doing nothing, and it filled me up.
I have no photos to show for any of this as a result. Nothingness will not share its beauty with the world.
To listen to my music, watch my films, or see my visual art, please visit:
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