I think I’ve mentioned here before that I’m not much of a fan of Facebook. I do have a Facebook page and if you check it you’ll see that it contains my name and not much else… The only reason I have a Facebook account is because just about everyone else in the world does and if I didn’t have it I might miss out on some stuff going on with my kids/grandkids. I don’t “post” to Facebook. I do, however check it periodically….
Lately, not surprisingly, I’ve noticed that a lot of people can’t post anything without making it political and seem to think that it’s their duty to share every single bit of oversimplified propaganda they come across. As always, this is only my opinion, but I doubt that anyone really logs on to Facebook to see your political views. I don’t remember ever seeing a political post on Facebook that tries to find a common ground. Mostly, it’s just about bashing the “other” side, and pointing out how only retards would believe anything different than their posts. A good many of the things I’ve noticed lately have some form of information that is not only totally skewed, but usually just plain wrong. Obviously these posts are made by people who don’t care to do any fact checking, or research — they just pass along anything that supports their view.
When was the last time you heard people arguing about politics and someone said, “Oh my gosh, you know what? You’re right! You’ve totally convinced me to change my mind!” Oh, let’s see… probably never! Political discussions with someone who agrees with your point of view evolves into you both just re-iterating the same thing over and over to each other. If you don’t agree, the “discussion” ends up with you both just calling each other ignorant and un-educated. No one is listening — no one is trying to calmly explain their point of view, it’s just a lot of hot air trying to convince the other side that they’re stupid for thinking like they do and believing what they believe.
Debating politics on Facebook is as useless as arguing with a door knob. What people are looking for is validation of their opinion, and if that opinion is challenged then defensiveness and name-calling seem to be in order. If those people really have good intentions and aren’t just talking or cutting and pasting because it’s easy, then they should do something productive like becoming active in the community as a political volunteer or get involved with the party or campaign that hopes to accomplish what they deem as right or correct. Doesn’t make any difference which side of the political spectrum you’re on, arguing on Facebook is pointless and accomplishes nothing.
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