Political Discourse in The Facebook Era

How do you like today's title?  I am betting that's actually the name of a course being taught at a college in this country as we speak.  By some chucklehead who is more than ill equipped to be giving out four credits.

As we head into a Presidential election in our manically bi-polar nation, I have noticed that the number of political comments on Facebook have gone up at a geometric pace.  And what's even more alarming?   The number of folks who, as they disagree with said political comment, get downright nasty about it. Civility has been tossed out with the baby and the bath water.

I'm a little scared.   And so should you be.

Last week, we had the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Republican debate and I chose not to watch it because I knew it would be a travesty.   As is everything political on both sides of the aisle in our land today.  Never before have we had a conga line of idiots vying for the most important position in the world.  From TV game show hosts to people who destroyed computer manufacturing companies to felons to embezzlers to one lunatic who actually will be 75 years of age come Election Day 2016.   It's nausea personified.

On Facebook, everybody has an opinion on all of this.  And that's the way it should be.   Freedom of speech and all that.   But, as I read one post after another and I watch friends converse on politics, I see that listening to opinions is one thing. Tolerance is a whole other can of beans.  

I've actually watched people call their friends stupid for having differing points of view.  I've seen folks repost or share websites and articles that are essentially propaganda but, because they agree with them, are positioned as gospel truth.  

All of a sudden, politics in our nation has become nothing more than a Yankees-Red Sox series in late September.   The vehemence and the vile that I read really makes me question what the hell we are all doing.

Let's face it.   Nobody is right.   Nobody is wrong.  And you're all right and you're all wrong.   That's what makes our national situation so complex.   And it's not going to be solved in fights over Facebook.  Better to get off the keyboard and read a book about American history.  Suddenly, you might see that you're really half wrong.   And your now former friend is half right.

You want to know how much worse this will get?  Facebook is going to be implementing a "dislike" button.   Oh, boy.  At that point, the United States of America will turn into nothing but a two-part sweeps episode of "All in the Family."

I am keeping my political views to myself.  Mostly because they are so different from everybody else's.   There are points on both sides that I embrace.  There are issues on both sides that I totally abhor.   As a result, my ideal Presidential candidate does not exist.

So, we will endure another year or so of this and, come the day after Election Day 2016, half the nation will be euphoric and the other half will have their heads implode.   And then the struggle begins all over again.

As for me, I'll be on Facebook.   Avoiding anything political and looking for the next funny cat video.  That's amazing in itself.  I hate cats.

Dinner last night:  Leftover ravioli.