I Stand with Standing Rock

I too believe that what the protesters are doing on Standing Rock is important. It's more important than the Bundy stand-off of last year for many reasons. The Bundy's were selfish wanting a national treasure for themselves while the Standing Rock Stand-Off is in the spirit of preserving a vital resource from tampering and potential destruction.  In my opinion, fresh drinking water is an imperative that trumps greed for fossil fuel sales.  I am not snowed as to thinking that this will curb our fossil fuel appetite, but I believe that funds dedicated to be used in this pipeline could better be used for honest, renewable energy.  

That said, I have no issue with standing with Standing Rock, but similar to other FaceBook hoaxes please note that there is no coordinated effort to track protestors through FaceBook.  The following is an excerpt from Snopes.Com:

"We contacted the department about the rumor, and an officer explained not only that they were not using Facebook check-ins as a gauge of anything, but that the metric presented no intelligence value to them. The rumor suggested that protesters cited Facebook check-ins as a manner in which police could target them, but check-ins were voluntary — and if police were using geolocation tools based on mobile devices, remote check-ins would not confuse or overwhelm them. In an e-mail response, a separate officer stated:

The Morton County Sheriff’s Department is not and does not follow Facebook check-ins for the protest camp or any location. This claim / rumor is absolutely false.

We also contacted Sacred Stone Camp to determine whether they were the source of the social media plea. A representative clarified the rumor, telling us that police do sift through social media for "incriminating material" (not whether or not they were at the site, however) and to generally monitor the protests. They told us that the group appreciated the gesture of solidarity, but that the message did not originate with their camp:

There is no doubt that law enforcement comb social media for incriminating material and monitor communications.
There is no solid line between "organizers" and "others"- this is a movement, not an organization. There are many camps and points of contact, we can only verify that it did not originate from the Sacred Stone Camp FB page. We support the tactic, and think it is a great way to express solidarity.

Neither the Morton County's Sheriff's Department nor representatives for a large camp believed that the viral Facebook status meme was impeding law enforcement activities (although the protesters said that they appreciated the solidarity).  Sacred Stone Camp maintained a fund to which supporters could donate money to support their legal defense. Although the meme drew attention to the issue, it didn't necessarily draw material assistance.

Originally published: 31 October 2016"

Ultimately, my view is don't post this with the intent on gaming anyone in law enforcement, but certainly stand in solidarity with the Indigenous Peoples who have camped out there in the interest of preserving a resource we all need.  As with all protests, merely posting something on FaceBook isn't enough.  If you're interested in going to the next level, check out these suggestions on TheFreeThoughtProject.Com.