It is Only the Preseason

As you may have noticed, it's election preseason.  I keep deep-breathing and reminding myself that it's only preseason.  Like in football, it doesn't matter if games are lost or what happens because it has little reflection on the actual season. It is just an opportunity to shake out the rookies who won't make the cut. It's my futile hope that when the actual season begins, the nonsense will lessen.

But that is just on the national and media level.  Now we have the social media level.  There seems to be no preseason in social media.  It can be just constant nonsense.  Once something is posted on social media, it is forever.  Even if it has been repeatedly debunked, it still makes the rounds.

We have what I call the Grandma Circle on our facebook.  It consists of Kevin's mom, Kevin's aunt, Kevin's mom's best friend, and our neighbor.  If one posts a meme, you can count that it will make the rounds within hours.  Every once in a while, I will post a comment that says "Ooops, this is a fake" just to stem the tide or just because I can't take it anymore when something is false.

Someone posted a status update a little while ago that said something along the lines of "We aren't friends because we agree on politics. I didn't choose to friend you because of politics.  I will hide or unfriend people who choose to spend their time on facebook spreading their views."

At first, I was all "Dude, Harsh" but I get it.  I use the facebook to keep in touch with friends and cousins.  I usually post memes about coffee and books and photos of the puppy.  If we're somewhere interesting, I will "check-in" with a comment or something funny. 

Gone are the days where I post an actual update.  I'm not sure why.  Some of the reason is that this year went sideways and I just didn't have much to say.  I just don't think people don't want to hear that my leg hurts, or Kevin's mom is struggling, or Lucky the Dog died, or that I hated the "perfect on paper" job.  I think people would rather see coffee memes and cute puppies.  But that is just my opinion, my way of doing things.

Along that line, I don't usually post anything political either.  I did when the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage because that personally affected members of my family and friends.  That was the exception.  Otherwise I do the passive activism thing of liking posts I agree with.  Some of those show up in our news feeds now so I feel like that it a gentle way of supporting a cause or stating a belief without the bullsh*t "Share if you agree" tagline. I won't like anything that has the "share" part of it.  I don't feel like I'm yelling in your face what my thought or belief is with a meme.

I just don't think it's respectful to the many kinds of people on my facebook.  Like you, I have family, coworkers, friends, and far-away friends, many of whom are older and they don't want to see the eff word in their feed, my politics will likely not match theirs, (think: church ladies) and unfortunately, I was raised in a political environment that doesn't match my own beliefs.  There are too many different people with different belief systems for me to feel easy about posting something like that.

One coping skill I use to cull out the nonsense on my feed is the hide option.  If someone posts something from a source I don't support, I use the "Hide all from ....." button.  This has alleviated some stress from my newsfeed for certain. By doing so, it often hides certain topics from my feed.

But there's always that one friend who posts stuff to "start a conversation" or "just to push buttons".  This friend is about to get themselves hidden.  The most recent one said something like "I know this will offend some so just keep scrolling if that's you."  I was actually surprised at how disrespectful that felt.  They consciously posted something knowing that it was offensive to some (and it was, and it was willfully ignorant, and narrow-minded) and just be all fine with it.

I guess I just don't understand it.  It's not free speech, it's intentionally posting to upset someone. It is disrespecting others because they have the right to do so and social media provides that platform. I choose not to be that person and it, perhaps childishly, frustrates me that others don't think the same.

Back to the original point: it's the political preseason.  (it's actually called the "silly season" but I like the football analogy)  I can only hope that the nonsense settles down once the rookies are cut, and we can move forward with the best candidates, not just the best of the worst.  I can only hope that people can maybe use some courtesy and continue to be friends.

Even if I have to hide them until 2017.