Micky Beisenherz on Facebook and his new name Meta

M. Beisenherz: Sorry, I’m here privately
Facebook & Co .: A new name does not solve old problems

A sign that you are possibly a bit older is the unsuspecting use of the saying “Raider is now called Twix, otherwise nothing will change”. A phrase used casually that inevitably identifies its user as old.

In any case, twenty-year-olds cannot remember this rebranding. Which is hardly surprising, since this actually happened in 1991 (!). At that time the CDU was still corrupt, the East had a Nazi problem, and the environment was not doing well. You can’t imagine today, I know.

The principle of renaming is not new, but is getting new fodder these days, as Mark Zuckerberg’s border-Satan communications group, the hate factory Facebook, wants to rename itself. Since you share the same blue anyway and the impression arises that the social network is a mental payment box, Dixi-Land would be suitable. But it doesn’t happen. The megalomaniac group is now to be called Meta.

Meta means something like “over”, and this also suggests that the new modesty will probably not move in in the future.

It remains a funny attempt to paint over the problematic basic orientation with a new name. As if one could occupy the Taliban more positively by calling it “Conservative Friends of Kabul”. No fewer people would be killed on the Kurfürstendamm if it were suddenly called Baerbock Avenue.

These new labels are always amusing: Kanye West is now called Ye, Karl-Marx-Stadt is Chemnitz, and “The 7th Sense” runs under “The Fast and the Furious”. The speed limit is also off the table. The corks pop in the pharmacy environment. It was a thing of the past anyway. “Safety speed” was the new term sought, since “speed limit”, yes, well, has something limiting, something that restricts freedom.

Astra Zeneca’s vaccine is suddenly called Vaxzevria

Of course, the defensive target group wouldn’t have wanted it anyway. It was a similar story with Astra Zeneca’s vaccine, which, through a horrific communication strategy and unfortunate studies, suddenly appeared to people as safe as shooting with Alec Baldwin. It didn’t help that the vaccine was named Vaxzevria in the spring.

But if corporations change their names, couldn’t we learn something from them too? Are we sure that we have found the right language in dealing with each other? Is it advisable to refer to people who are hesitant to be vaccinated as “anti-vaccination agents”? What does this language, which is often so divisive, bring us?

We’re quick to distribute labels. They help us to classify the world. Unfortunately, we dig trenches so often. Which is absurd, since language should be there to connect. But where every second person is a “climatic pig”, a “Nazi” or an “eco-crazy”, rhetorical weapons become blunt. Then everyone is an idiot, everything is a scandal. You can live out the curses in the common digital labeling machines, regardless of whether they are called Facebook or Meta cheese.

It’s funny: the platform comes up with new names for one and the same problem (itself), while users often only have the same label on hand for a wide variety of issues.

Here, with language power, savings are clearly made at the wrong end.

Micky Beisenherz is looking forward to you: What moves you Exchange ideas with our columnist: www.facebook.com/micky.beisenherz