At least Medium doesn’t delete my posts just because I contradict more popular posters — so far... That’s a plus, a very small plus. Post anything the least bit unpopular on Facebook or Quora and it disappears almost immediately, no matter how accurate or true it is.

But, Medium feeds me what it thinks I want to read…why? Why expend the time and effort to push articles and writers in my direction? Why not just make a menu available and let me decide, unless…Medium wants to decide for me, Medium wants to tell me who and what to read, not because I don’t have the time or desire to choose myself, but because Medium knows better than I do what I should read.

I’ve selected and reselected the publications I want to follow, to no avail. The editors all fail me. They all send me counterfactual, irrational analysis of the news and science, and poorly written fiction.

Why not the giant menu? Why not let me exercise my own judgement and find the publications and editors or independent writers whom I appreciate? What is it about letting me be me that Medium doesn’t like?

It can’t be me. I’m too old to be in Medium’s sights. It’s got to be the young crowd. For whatever reason, Facebook and Medium find attractive the idea of controlling what people read. And, for whatever reason, young people find attractive the idea of letting Facebook and Medium control what they read.

I think, for the young crowd, it’s the ease of following a well worn path, versus having to break your own, to think and make judgments.

I have no idea what it is for the people who run these sites. I’m wondering whether we should vet median moguls the way we should vet cops and politicians; if you want to be one — you can’t. Who’d hand control of a country to someone who wanted to control people? Who’d hand the right to life or death to anyone who’d want that right? Who’d hand control of what you read to anyone who wanted to control it? Where and when did Mark Zuckerberg and Evan Williams acquire the wisdom to tell me what to read?

They didn’t. They acquired the power to do so, and they exercise it via their cadre of editors, their minions. They’re nothing more than Time or Newsweek sans wasted trees. They still take on with relish the role of gatekeepers and opinion makers. As I said, would you give the right to determine what you read to anyone who wanted to exercise that right?

You have.