FYI, but not if you're a Buddhist.

Content Warning

Hi, folks. This entry's forewarning message is to let you know I will be talking a little bit about religions in this post.
While I do not have the intent to deep dive, I am aware that some of you may plainly prefer to skip it at any level.
Consider this brief treatise a content warning, s'il vous plait. Merci!

Hey there.

On our tablets, provided to us in part by Securus, an aventiv company, there is an app provisioned to us called "FYI".
As in the real world, the acronym does mean for your information.

It is used for making messages from our Secretary for FDC, Ricky Dixon, available to we incarcerated many at any time, along with a generic inmate handbook, information on why hand washing is important, and a single page infolet on what COVID-19 is.

These uses are, in the relative scope, useful to the majority of inmate-residents and potentially beneficial to the population. It's how we learned that (in my case, only if I get moved to a state-run prison and) if I remain disciplinary report free for 90 days, I get a free 15-minute call once per month in addition to the weekly free 5-minute call. We also learned about enhanced penalties for possessing a smartphone, hotspot, or modifying tablets through this app, as well as being shown names and faces of inmates across the state who were charged and found guilty of breaking rules that merit an additional sentence.

Scared 'straight' (for values of straight)? Yeah, that is the intent.

One thing I also noticed in the FYI app is a proliferation of religious content, specifically for Christians, Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Jewish folk. No other faith is represented in FYI -- nothing is posted for Muslims, Buddhists, or any other faith...

For those who might know what we have on our tablets, I am sure to hear "Quit complaining, you have podcasts!" from their mouth.

I haven't complained; I seek amused enlightenment. :)
In our podcasts app, there are 15 listed feeds for Buddhism, 16 for Islam, 50 for Christianity (of which one is specifically Jehovah's Witnesses oriented), and a few on Wiccan traditions.
In the Buddhism podcasts, three of them are highly inactive feeds; one of these seems to be a satirical view on Buddhism, rather than something that teaches in a direct manner. Perhaps Simple Suttas is a koan in disguise, and I don't have the enlightenment to understand it.

To further press the idea of having things foist upon us, I bring up the forced install of the Pando app on our tablets. We get apps we cannot uninstall or hide; Pando serves the Christian community with sermons and lessons, movies, and a digital version of the Holy Bible. No equivalent content is available to any other faith group in FDC's system.

The point is a lack of equal representation on hardware that many inmates use: Please exercise Right Action, and provide fair access to teachings of many faiths, not just one. We are all different, a variegated selection that ascribes to a single common bond called humanity. As so, you and I will believe in different things. We may have some commonalities, but divergence is inevitable with 8 billion folks on the third rock from Sol.

It would be wonderful to open the FYI app and be offered Dhamma teachings with videos, alongside my brothers in their faiths.

Pragmatism tells me, however, that there is a slim likelihood this will be accommodated.

At any rate, I thank you again for reading, sharing, and for your time as I ramble. :)
Be good to and for each other, each and every day.
Take care.