An annoyingly useless rant about social media #whiner #hypocrite #backintheday
I have spoken on more than one occasion about opinions, feelings, and beliefs. The personal nature of these things is something that is facinating to me with my background in Psychology and I have a tremendous amount of respect for the ideology of others. Do I always understand it? No, not even remotely, but I respect that the person has their God given right to feel or believe whatever it is that they so choose.
That being said, I am beginning to feel like this sometimes….
It reminds me of my first Philosophy course in high school where, on the very first day of class, the professor asked us to raise our hands to show where we stood on certain ‘hot topics’ of controversy that were currently in the media. I knew these kids. We had classes together and extracurricular activities…I had seen them in the halls daily for years.
But the moment the hands started going up I was shocked right out of my socks.
Gay marriage, death penalty, religion…these were some of the things mentioned. As I saw the varying opinions in the room, there was a part of me wished that I could un-know them right then and there. While I can certainly respect that people will not always see eye to eye when it comes to these types of issues, it can be difficult to digest that people that you once had a tremendous amount of respect for are the ones on the side that you think is obviously the “incorrect” side to be on.
Thank you, Facebook.
Facebook, for me, is a place to share humorous anecdotes and photographs- your standard typical mommy fare. I enjoy reading about people’s lives and following them on their journey in this life after we bid farewell at graduation. In it’s infancy, I perceived Facebook as a gift. How lucky were we that technology, in all of it’s glory, was allowing us to keep up with the people in our lives that we would otherwise not receive an update on until the ten and twenty year reunions? How fantastic to be able to watch high school and college friends and acquaintances’ children being born and growing! I was a fan -a huge one- for years. I posted frequently and without abandon and checked my news feed more often than I would like to admit.
Although now, every single time that I check it, it seems as though it is a technological soapbox platform on which everyone stands to cram their radical and firm opinions down everyone else’s throats.
Whoa. Let’s calm down, now. Do you really need to post five photos and articles in one afternoon about your second amendment right? I am certainly not attempting to silence your first amendment right to blab your opinion all over the internet but is five necessary? Look, I know that you believe that Obama is ruining this country and is tantamount to the antichrist but how many more memes are you planning to post in a row so that I can plan a hiatus here? I know, I know, there is nothing in this world that you hate more conspiracy theorists but there is no need to post fourteen links to articles that agree with you. One really would have sufficed.
Please do not mistake that I am against a good opinion or a thought provoking, solid argument in defense of it, actually. I love a well thought out and valid argument. This has not been my experience as of late, however, as it actually looks more like this…
There is no fact, no research, no true amount of thought going into it. It’s a free-for-all of “I think this because I do and you’re wrong because I am right and maybe if I use enough SAT words I will sound as though I have put more thought into this than reading Gawker or Reddit every so often!” followed by a response of “No! I AM right because you are wrong and I think so because I was raised to and no amount of research or public opinion is going to change that!”
End scene.
Mostly, I stay my happy little behind out of it, even when I agree, because I refuse to argue with the guy that sat behind me Freshman year in Lit because he thinks that boycotting a chicken restaurant that I enjoy is an essential part of showing solidarity for a social issue. I don’t even know you, dude, and your opinion on gay marriage is clear from your profile picture. I’m for gay marriage, too, I just happen to also really like Polynesian sauce, okay? Get off my back already.
Can we just go back to the days when Facebook was still brand new and everyone was excited to have it? Back when there was more posts from friends than sponsors? Back to when it wasn’t the “cool” thing to do to post random photos that demand you “like” them if you are against racism, puppy beating, or other egregious acts? Of course, I am against puppy beating but what is liking this picture really going to do about it? Is the guy about to beat the puppy going to check Facebook first and say, “No, three thousand people can’t be wrong”, and put the puppy down? No, I don’t want to sign your online petition, I just want to post a cute picture of Jp just in case my Iphone is ever stolen and my computer crashes simultaneously (stranger things have been known to happen, people!).
Oh, and as final thought to this totally useless rant that I am pretty much complaining about people doing on Facebook -yet I created an entire blog to spout my personal opinion daily- here is my closing…
Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaah! #Ihateyoupeople
Photo Credits:
Musings facebook funny hash tags humor opinions rant social media
Three Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest 
Boom! Love it. 🙂
Thanks. 🙂
Diddo. The hashtag thing gets RIGHT up on my tits.
Oh, we have one guy that is the WORST and we all make fun of him endlessly! #getalifeloser
AWESOME. I agree. 100%.
I’ve had some recent “dealings” with people through FB that I sooo wish I could blog about, but can’t, and it has totally soured FB for me. sure, I still check it everyday, but I scan through and think, “yep, that was all pointless” except for the random posts from my sisters and all my cousins back in TX that I miss. I recently deleted a bunch of people that live close to me that could pick up the phone and CALL me, or send a text if they don’t want to call, and I could not believe the firestorm it created. I was accused of some awful things because I de-friended people of FB and apparently, if you don’t want to be friends on FB you don’t want to be friends in real life. *eye roll.
That’s funny. I made a joke recently that went on and on and on with people trying to convince me that I was wrong. I was dumbfounded. I kept thinking (of the biggest offender) “you’re a high school dropout. On what planet am I going to EVER take what you say as fact?” Much less something that isn’t verifiable in the first place. Wake up, people, it’s a website! No one is changing anyone’s mind here! 😉
Boring! Blog about controversy. It’s fun. 🙂
Reeow!
It that a cat fight? 😉
Lol. GIG….CATFIGHT!!!
Sorry, I meant #catfight #awesome #yeehawtexas
#knockitoff #thisgetsoldfast #everythingsawesomerintexas
I’m new to hash tags. I see you and Mormon both posted again! Seriously, it’s not on purpose??
Huh? She posted about germs. I couldn’t be more opposite. And I talked about social media???
Not the topic, Tex, the timing. Always near the same time. Coincidence I guess.
Lol I have to finish all of my chores before I go to the blogging ball and, since her son still naps, my money is on she writes at nap time. Must be around the same time. I never noticed! 🙂
This is so spot-on. I too used to LOVE Facebook, but it’s not so much fun anymore. And you’re totally right about knowing maybe too much about people’s radical beliefs…it’s hard for me to feel friendly toward many of my “friends” whom I disagree with, while in daily life, it may never have come up, or would have in a more civil way.
I couldn’t agree more. People that I once had the utmost respect for now I not only despise their opinions, but their militancy, as well. It’s infuriating. I read the feeds and think they are not only misinformed but thoroughly unopened to even listening to an adverse opinion.
I had no idea that they were so angry! 🙂
It feels useless and because no amount of bitterness or complaining will ever get Facebook to change it.
You know what really makes me bitter? People that complain about Facebook on Facebook.
Quit being so lazy and get a blog already!
Yes, that is exactly right. Be bitter somewhere else! Facebook has it’s uses, but if you are on it all day it then becomes like your family, where little things start to bother you because it is always around.
I’ve all but guven up on it altogether. Now people call and say ‘didn’t you get my message.’ #no#i#did#not. But now you’re on the phone you can tell me what you said.
FB just makes me tired. I used to love it. And then the last 2 years happened, and it’s become this morass of fringe-level ideology and a place to pollute with nothing else but other people’s intellectual property. I used to live on FB. Now, I rarely go there. I think I’ve hidden just about as many friends as I allow on my feed. At least with blogs, you actively are searching for someone’s opinion or information. That is hugely different from having it Clockwork Orange’d into your noggin.
It’s all very sad. Some days, it’s almost like FB is a microscopic view of the world at large these days.
It is exhausting. I find myself changing my views of people that I once liked and that is just sad. I think taking the mystery out of people is something that we can’t take back.
I actually know some of my single friends “research” guys on Facebook before a date. How is THAT for technology? 😉
Enthusiastic “like”! Ha!
There are people I would like to “unfriend” in real life based solely on their Facebook feed.
Agreed! Knowing people’s innermost workings is sooooo passe! 😉
You are so right. I deleted my FB account over a year ago.
Unfortunately this is not limited to FB. Here at WordPress I made the mistake of engaging in a heated discussion, a few times.
It seems that subjective feelings and believes rule out objective facts and argument. Sadly my opponents weren’t even trying to follow my me or consider a point. That brings up the questions: Why do they engage the matter, when they are not willing to acknowledge that there might be a different opinion? Where is the point in just stating the (believed in) truth?
That’s what gets me. If it was an exchange in which we were sharing ideas and learning things from each other I would be open to it.
But, like you said, it’s just stating opinion as fact and then caps yelling until you hear the other person tap out.
I’ve never had it on WP, thankfully, but I just can’t bring myself to delete it! It still has moments that make it worth it…though I have begun deleting people without abandon. 😉