Stressin' on Facebook

Friday, January 27, 2017
I have a new Facebook policy.

As I've mentioned before, I've been hiding people with reckless abandon since last Spring, because I really didn't want to be inundated with "all politics, all the time." Those people who never posted anything but political content were hidden, because damn. I don't consider Facebook a political news site, and I was weary of those people who did.

Once the election was over, I thought I'd unlock the content of those individuals I'd previously hidden.

Crap on a cracker, what a mistake.

So here's my new policy, put in place for my own self-care and stress management:

I recognize that people can post whatever they like on their own pages. Not my circus, not my monkeys. But I can choose to read whatever I like, and from now on, if you post the following crap, I will delegate you to the back porch of my Facebook house, where I don't have to look at what you choose to post.

1. If you think it's okay to disrespect an entire group of private citizens based on the behavior of one or two individuals, you're out. Examples: A conservative expresses a belief that women who terminate their pregnancies should go to jail, so you assume that all conservatives, everywhere, care more about a fetus than viable living children and so are heartless scumbags. You have no idea how all conservatives, everywhere, feel about that opinion. and I'm not interested in your ill-conceived conclusions. The same rule applies to everyone, conservative, liberal, or moderate.

2. If you think it's okay to re-post content from Facebook pages called "Conservatives are Fascists" or "Liberals are Hypocrites," then to the porch you go. Such sites do nothing but deliberately foment distrust, polarization, and anger between people of differing views. If you endorse such a site, I have no choice but to assume you also consider ALL conservatives to be fascists or ALL liberals to be hypocrites. I have friends and family on BOTH sides of the political spectrum, people I love and respect. Why the hell do I want to interact with you when you've just insulted me and the people I care about?

3. If you use terms like "libtard" or "sheeple" to attack the opposition, then really - your argument is forfeit and you're off to the porch. If you TRULY believe that hyper-partisanship is out of control and we should all be a little more respectful of the loyal opposition, then don't start the conversation with an ad hominen attack.

4. If you post articles from sources that are widely acknowledged to be utter garbage because of their hyper-partisan conspiracy theories, then we'll not be interacting on this forum. Think "Natural News," "Addicting Info," "Info Wars, or "Breitbart." There are plenty of fact-based journalists out there - on both sides of the aisle - without resorting to this trash.

And as always, if your content proves you to be a bigot, not only do you get the back porch, you get the boot. With extreme prejudice.

I'm sure there are people out there who are currently my friend or currently follow me who will take offense at these rules and unfollow me or unfriend me or whatever. That's fine. They have the right to manage their Facebook account however they see fit, just as I do. But I'm sick of being insulted, disrespected, and discounted because I'm liberal and that offends some people. And I'm sick of my friends and family members who are conservatives being insulted, disrespected, and discounted because they're conservative and that offends other people. People complain about the tenor of conversation on social media, and while I can't fix the internet, I have the power to fix my own little corner of it.

2 comments:

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Anna Schafer said...

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