A friend posted a link to an article about gun control the other day. This is a complex issue and I’m not 100% ingrained in my views (and always want to be willing to consider all sides), so I decided to follow the link…until I saw the avatar for the original site. It featured a photograph of President Obama with the words “Muslim” slapped below. I recoiled, immediately recognizing an extreme sight, no matter your political affiliations.
A few days later, a meme comparing the President to Hitler for using children “as props” appeared in my newsfeed. This shocked me – the poster is intelligent, not generally prone to extremism, and someone I’d happily discuss politics with. In fact, I probably trump him in extremism. Here’s the thing, though. Once you compare someone or something to Hitler, your point is lost.
A fascinating conversation followed this post, with one friend beautifully articulating why the Hitler comparison amounted to hypocrisy and how nonsensical it is to use an extreme example to accuse someone of extremism. I would quote for you, but the entire post has since been deleted. No minds were changed, but the conversation remained polite and intelligent. Surprisingly, the conversation turned out be an excellent example of success in facebook civil discourse from a very unlikely source. It gave me hope for the human race.
Not long after, the Feminist Breeder posted a witty reference to the end of tax credits and their minimal impact on her family. She is no stranger to controversy, but I don’t think she could have anticipated the backlash. Hundreds of people took the post personally, accusing her of being a rich blogger (a contradiction in terms) and of mocking them as their finances took a major hit. Her post, most likely intended to draw a few laughs, led to a crazy trains of angry discourse. It also eventually led to the real truth behind the increase in all of those paychecks, although I’m sure many missed this point in the midst of all that fury.
Reading all of this, you might be thinking, Listen. It’s my page – I can vent if I want to. And I don’t disagree. Honestly, sometimes it feels good to think of my facebook page as my space. A place to be me and share what I really think. But it’s also a place where I share endearing stories and photos of my kids, connect with family I wouldn’t see otherwise, and keep up with friends who live at a distance. Just like real-life relationships, facebook is a complicated place where I balance relating to and connecting with people I truly care about – people with a diversity of views, opinions, and ideals. Just like I try not to dump every thought and belief out there in real life, I hope to practice a little restraint online as well.
A handy little info box popped up in my newsfeed on Friday from the President. It encouraged me to “share” and help educate others about the President’s gun control plan. I shared and then about a second later, visited my page and hit “delete.” Why? It occurred to me that, in these impassioned times, this post would only preach to the choir, alienate people, and most likely promote a debate on my page I didn’t feel like having. It felt like a “choose your battles” moment and I certainly choose them. I just want to do so wisely.
Because, here’s the thing: Sometimes I’m passionate about something controversial. There are moments when I truly hope to make a point, have a real discussion about an important issue, or provoke thought. If I’ve alienating my audience with a hundred snarky posts that don’t really matter much, I might find that there’s no audience left when it really matters.
I’m thinking more and more about giving facebook a break. People are really going psychotic, posting things are completely untrue, unreliable, unverifiable, and down right.. what? unpatriotic? in regard to gun ‘control’ and just politics itself. then again these are the same people that believe that the president is muslim (after all his name is Hussein, he MUST be, despite the fact that he’d been going to Christian churches for years and years.. oh and does anyone remember the stink with his long time PASTOR supporting him 4 years ago?).. of course not.. I just roll my eyes and keep on going forward. You will never change some people’s minds. They grab onto something because someone ‘said it’ and it ‘must be true’ and then judge people because they want to. Even if it’s not true. The references to Hitler began with the first election, I’ll just be glad when people find something new to talk about. Maybe something great? Hopefully something great will happen.. *sigh* I guess bunnies are to blame?
Yet there are some people who beg for attention. Great post! This is what a blogger does!
Cinella @ The Mami Blog
This is great. I am anti-politics and cats on FB. But what makes me the most crazy is people who sell things like it’s CL. Thank goodness for the “hide” button.
Insightful post, Mindy. I’ve seen so many hateful and extreme posts on FB in recent months. I’ve hidden people from my feed that I previously enjoyed reading comments from. I love the thought that there may come a time when we really want that audience to be there! I wish more people would consider that before posting.
I keep my political opinions on my PERSONAL page, never my blog. My blog has a specific focus, and politics isn’t one of them…so my opinions have no place on my blog or Facebook fan page.
Spreading of misinformation, untruth, hate, can happen from ALL sides. The media (backed with financial interests) spreads this as well. As a person who takes a great interest in the future of this country, I do spend quite a bit of time researching the issues (as much as I can, because like I said…most media outlets are funded by special interest groups, which makes this quite difficult) and encourage others to second guess “facts” of events, issues, etc.
These posts are quite often labelled as “hate” (when they truly aren’t, most often it is because the person reading it simply disagrees with whatever I have to say, which is fine, we are all entitled to our opinions) or I get bashed for one reason or another…when the person obviously didn’t read it!
I can’t stand it when I am instantly accused of being racist or unpatriotic simply because I disagree with or agree with some policy, law, whatever. I just make sure that I can fully explain why I do or don’t agree with it.
Personally, I think the ability to speak out against or for political issues is extremely important…but it has to be done intelligently (without ignorance and sharing of ridiculous FB memes). If we can’t, then we truly do not live in a Democracy. Nothing makes me more angry when someone votes for someone because they approve of their policies, but can’t even begin to explain what they are!
Bottom line…I think it is more important to have strong convictions (that is based on articulation and ACTUAL RESEARCH from reliable sources, not rehashings from the media) rather than believe everything that the media/government encourages us to believe (which again, are backed by financial interests).
Even those who claim that they are not one of these “crazy” people who post political stuff all over social networks GROUP people who go against their beliefs into the SAME CATEGORY…as I had gathered from the first comment above, correct me if you feel that I am wrong. Before you instantly right off something as untrue or “crazy”, do some research, ask an expert, make an informed decision first, it’s important to view all sides of an issue (ask that person WHY they think that, just as the author of this post has done, but don’t stop there, find out why these “people” believe what they do. you may be surprised at what you may find, maybe you won’t take it to the same extreme as they do) because it can actually help your convictions only to be stronger.
Sorry for the super long rant, but I too am sick of the misinformation being passed around….