Facebook gives me the ability to keep up with friends and family easily and, for the most part, enjoyably. It occasionally offers me a platform for my political opinions. But yesterday one of those expressions devolved into an angry fight between two of my FB "friends" and I became the "monkey in the middle."
I have enjoyed spirited, not completely friendly exchanges, on FB before, sometimes on the pages of my friends. On one occasion I fully expected the host friend, who was absent from the discourse, to tell me and my opponent to "get a room." Another FB friend announced in a post that he would "unfriend" anyone who used his posts for side arguments or who violated the rules of common civility.
The problem is NOT disagreement or opposing viewpoints. The problem is the TONE used to express disagreement. Perhaps strong language is inevitable when strong emotions and beliefs are involved. Playing the overused "Hitler" card guarantees escalation of the war with words. The return shot fulfilled that expectation. As the friend "in common" I faced the choice of offending one or both but pleasing neither. If I have lost a friend over this, that was an awful price to pay.
No wonder my wiser "friends" often step aside when their posts become virulent. I considered deleting the entire thread, but there were ideas expressed there (mixed in with the personal attacks) that I felt deserved to stand.
I intentionally keep the number of my FB friends small - I want to be able to keep up with them. For security reasons I limit all contact to "friends." I am going to have to rethink how I use the social network. Evidently I am too liberal for the right and too conservative for the left yet somehow don't fit comfortably into the middle either!
Time to go out in the garden and eat worms... .
Here's what I think...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Don't give up. The Hitler reference has been used so many times that is now just expected. I usually don't take the bait. My sister holds me personally responsible for the realitive number of blacks incarcerated. When I had the nerve to ask if the fact that they committed a greater percentage of the crimes was worth considering, I was immediately labeled a racist. Tough to be a pragmatist. You bear this burden yourself as you very well know. One gets used to it. I posted a comment on my last blog in answer to a prior comment. I think it clarifies my position. Who knows? Anyway, soldier on! Surely such a small dustup is not worth a second thought. So how's the family? How's the weather? LOL
ReplyDelete