Tonight, during the final presidential debate, four people un-friended me. This reminds me about a recent phenomenon I read about in several outlets, including this one.
Done reading? What's interesting to me is the different expectations that people have about political discourse in various venues. For some reason, inexplicable to me, some people believe Facebook (in particular) to be solely the domain of fluff - wedding photos, baby pics and stories, LOLcatz, and meme sharing. My apologies if you are one of these. Here's why:
The discourse level in America when it comes to politics is dismal. And politics IS important. Presidential campaigns ARE important. I am of the mind that saying you just don't care is the equivalent of handing in your citizenship card. But, but, you say, I DO care enough to vote, but I DON'T care enough to listen/read/watch YOUR views because they disagree with mine. Ok. But consider this: I have not un-friended anyone this political season. I haven't even "hidden" anyone. I am extremely liberal and have many conservative friends. But I try to engage them in as respectful a manner as possible in discussions of political stripe because I care and I know that they also care, despite our differing views.
I'll say it. It is an utter cop-out to complain about people being passionate political participants. There are too few of us. The bigger question is why aren't you more involved? Why don't YOU care more? And if you really don't care, then you surely don't mind me making your voting decision for you?
Think about it. People who un-friend others because they don't like political discourse on the sacred fluffiness of Facebook are disconnected from their "friends" in substantial ways. These folks weren't really my "friends" to begin with - because people who know me understand that I am a passionate politico - I post about union issues, and political issues that are important to me. No surprise there. What is surprising is the weakness that this "action" of un-friending actually represents. These are people who should either turn in their citizenship cards or whose beliefs are so tenuous that they run from any challenge.
"That's not what Facebook is for!" Maybe when it began, but now, as you may have noticed, Facebook is a locus for political debate and commentary, among other things. And that's ok. In fact, I think it should be encouraged, if only to draw more voices into rational discussion. This platform is changing and change is inevitable. Don't like it? Leave Facebook.
"I'm not interested in politics at all!" Then you should be. And shame on you for not caring enough to pay attention and make an informed decision and possibly add your voice to a dynamic debate.
"I don't agree with you and your views are too sharp!" I do feel bad for anyone whose beliefs are so thin that they can't withstand a friend or associate with sharply differing views. This is a level of weakness that I just don't respect. I love my conservative friends - they keep me on my toes! And there is nothing wrong with that.
Allow me to end with an analogy. Un-friending someone for their political views and level of participation and commentary on FB is like me un-friending someone for their 85,000 daily photos of baby. Your baby doesn't look any different today than she did yesterday, trust me. But if I un-friended people who post 50,000 baby photos a day - that I am not the least bit interested in because I am not interested in babies...at all - you all would think I was some kind of ogre, irrational...mean, even!
You know what? I would never do that. Know why? Because I like my friends. And having babies, posting proud pics, and talking baby poop is part of their lives - I respect and honor that. That is part of who they are...one facet of many of the individual I became friends with in the first place. So I don't un-friend people for silly things like not agreeing or not being interested...because I see people in all of their complexity - and love them for it.
People who can't do the same for me? Be gone, and good riddance.
Please vote on November 6. Your voice and vote DO matter. Please care enough to become informed on the issues close to your life and vote accordingly.
