Monday, September 10, 2012

On Facebook and political memes

Can we all just agree that we are never going to get anywhere on facebook?

When we publish political memes of FaceBook we are not contributing to the conversation. We are not swaying anybody. We are not motivating anybody. All we are doing is getting digital "Hell yeahs!" from our friends who agree with us and pissing off and offending our friends who do not. I am as guilty of this as anyone else. I re-post all sorts of anti-Tea Party, pro President Obama stuff. I do so without vetting it and I am sure some of it is factually incorrect. I am also sure that it is basically true. It feels good, after being pilloried and beaten down by the talking heads on Fox, the Republican party in general, and my conservative friends on FaceBook (to whom I am addle-brained, brain washed, a bleeding heart, a cool-aide drinking Obama-head, and an evil socialist bastard), to stand up and say "Fuck you!"--and that is all a political meme is on Facebook, it is a digital "Fuck you!" What passes for debates in the comments section are really no better. It is really just people stating their deeply held beliefs and getting annoyed at the beliefs of others and occasionally insulting them over them. By the way, the biggest insult you can say to me is any version of "you haven't thought this out." That includes "you are just repeating the party line," "you are blinded by partisanship," and "only an idiot or a fool would believe...."

And yes, I have posted every one of these things in the past. I am a sooty pot.