This is the
first election that I have lived through on Facebook and I’m ready to run for
cover. My newsfeed is so full of political postings and opinions that all the
fact checkers would have to work six hundred hours a week just to sort the mess
out. I’ve been foolish enough to be sucked into the drama, and then I declared
my Facebook page a political free zone. I joined Facebook to keep up with
people, more family than anything else, but I never saw this mess coming.
Here’s the
deal, freedom of speech is a right afforded to all of us, but for goodness
sake, does it have to be so hateful? Both sides are absolutely full of it, and
I’m almost ashamed for the behavior of some individuals who post what they
post. The name calling, the accusations that someone is an idiot or worse for
what they believe is NOT a debate. It’s insulting and belittling. Sure, some
are funny. The best news feed I read had a rant running a mile long on both
sides when someone popped up and posted “Let’s talk about religion!”
My Daddy
used to tell me “You should never talk religion and politics,” and I now
understand what he meant by that. You can’t bludgeon someone over and over with
the same hate speech and expect them to come over to your way of viewing
things. They may be brain damaged after the fact, but they will forever see you
in a different light. The other thing I’ve noticed is people forget who they
have on their friend’s lists. Some have expressed hateful views about
Catholics, Mexicans, Jews, and Muslims on their pages, and then they wonder why
they get dropped as friends. Let’s face it folks, there is a time and a place
for political pontification, but I doubt it’s for Facebook. It can’t be a
debate with no give and take. It’s not an opinion when you express hate over
one group or another, and when you disrespect one, you disrespect all.
I respect
everyone’s right to pick whatever political party they wish and to vote in that
direction. I do not however, feel respect when people belittle others for not
sharing the same political views that they have. You can’t call someone a right
wing religious zealot nut or a left wing commie pig and expect to have an
intelligent debate. Anyway, that’s my
political rant for the day….unless you want to talk about religion.
