Posted on 02/25/2015 3:01:20 PM PST by Chris Shugart Uncommon Sense
I always find it distressing when a Facebook friend of mine posts something appallingly stupid. Its one thing when someone you dont know does it. A total stranger who youll never meet is quickly forgotten. Someone you know isnt so easy to dismiss.
Its the same sort of unsettling feeling I get when I try to imagine the sort of people who buy those tacky commemorative plates they advertise in TV Guide. I realize there are people out there who have no sense of taste whatsoever. But Im perfectly happy to remain in comfortable ignorance, knowing that Ill probably never have to experience the creepiness of walking into someones living room and seeing a Prince William Royal Wedding plate adorning the mantelpiece.
On the other hand, when someone I know makes an attempt to inflate a weak premise by providing a link to some ridiculous article fraught with tortured logic and perverse moral equivalence, Im no longer dealing with a nameless anybody. Gone is that element of anonymity that makes it easy to jump on faceless idiotic bloggers struggling for coherency. Instead, familiarity instantly inserts reality into the dialogue. And it forces me to acknowledge that everyone doesnt think like I do.
The complexion of the conversation changes completely once youre in an online exchange with someone you know. I feel obligated to tolerate my friends on things for which I normally have such a low tolerance otherwise. And much as I try to be polite about it, Im not always so diplomatic.
I suppose theres a bottom line to my dilemma. Ill occasionally follow the advice of the late American philosopher, Rodney King, who asked us, Can we all get along? Its a nice sentiment, but one I dont always subscribe to. The iconoclast in me prefers to challenge the orthodoxies of others. Its an effort that hardly ever brings about a good result.
Theres another saying which comes to mind, and it might be the best advice of all. It comes from Linus, from the Peanuts comic strip. There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin. If I were really smart, Id probably stick with that.
I avoid my real life friends and family online.
I don’t do facebook.
Of course you are not alone.
I practically worship freedom, and the right to live as I choose. The Golden Rule is to allow others the same freedom. If acquaintances and friends and family post their own opinions online, how they feel, vote, or think, I respect it and stay away.
If it’s an issue on which they have facts wrong and there is something non threatening that I can maybe steer them to, without putting them down or starting a fight, sometimes I do it and sometimes I don’t.
Some people whom I adore are I believe misguided about politics or the world. They get their info from tainted sources. But if you say this, they will say that you get YOUR info from tainted sources. And then there you are.
Enjoy the people you enjoy for what you enjoy them for. Let them be them.
Your coworkers and acquaintances just leave alone.
Yes. My family and I stay away from politics. It’s not worth the hard feelings.
Been there, done that.
I was just told by a friend that Guiliani wears mascara and another one said “he was speaking for the president” when he dissed Obama. What can you say to this?!
I don’t have this problem because I deleted my Facebook account over a year ago. Facebook initially was a fun way to keep in touch with old friends, but the Progressive Left destroyed it with their incessant propagandizing. I got so sick of “friends” posting pre-made memes from Leftist organizations praising Obamacare, calling Republicans greedy racists and on and on. I don’t think I would have minded it so much if these morons had taken the time to express their own opinions, but instead they would just lazily forward all these Leftist graphics and slogans and pollute my page with it.
Beyond that I realized that Facebook has become a do-it-yourself intelligence dossier so that Big Brother doesn’t have to put any effort into knowing who your associates and family are and what you’re thinking. Screw ‘em, they can read my FR posts if they want to know that stuff about me.
Never had that problem, because I’ve NEVER used Facebook.
I don’t believe I’m missing anything. I’ve never been the social type anyway.
I have a few nieces who “air their dirty laundry” quite often on Facebook. Fortunately, they all have married names which are not the same as my own nor of their parents. I am embarrassed for my sister & brother-in-law(these are their girl’s and the relationship is known by many others on Facebook), and likewise embarrassed for each of the girls by their choice of language and comment content. They were NOT brought up the way the express themselves, nor are they young women. Guess Facebook and other social media outlets bring out a lot of people’s faults.
“and another one said he was speaking for the president when he dissed Obama. What can you say to this?!”
I am not trying to advise you. I am simply saying what I would say to the person who said the above:
You are a stupid, no good, rotten, dirty, ( expletive deleted ), followed by many other expletives deleted! LOL
I use Facebook to stay in touch with family - only. When a family member posts something offensive (such as a positive comment on Barack Obama), I lose the desire to stay in touch, and I block them. I don’t benefit from hearing details on why a few of my relatives hate America (fortunately only three out of over 100 have crossed that terrible line and mentioned voting for or supporting the communist).
I prefer twitter. I like the anonymity and people can’t put crap in my twitter feed that I don’t want.
I use it as the world’s fastest news feed. Plus I can call Nancy Pelosi an ulcerated toad rectum right in her twitter feed.
One of the best features of Facebook is to stop following stupid individuals you don’t associate with in real life. When the leftist cousin or high school alumni sends the friend request, you can accept and not follow. No insult and they don’t even now you never see their foolish posts.
IIRC that's not possible, inactivate but can't delete. Maybe I'm wrong because I do not do Facebook even for family.
Some family members spill their guts on it, telling things that should never be aired, get in fights.
Not for me.
I have tweeted a few times though, rarely.
One of my niece's is married to a former marine who claims to have PTSD even though he was a office desk jockey reading emails and never saw combat. He even has a service dog. His disability payment is nice and all he does is sit around the house playing video games while my niece works full time. On facebook they have been posting pictures of him at activities put on by the Wounded Warrior Project. I have to really bite my tongue every time I see his lazy mug.
I have friends who don’t share my philosophical framework in real life and often the same people on facebook. When they talk their stuff (that I’ve heard a billion times, used to live in the SF Bay Area) I just Unfollow them on Facebook. Their stuff doesn’t show up on my wall, I can check in on them if I want to, and I haven’t Unfriended them.
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