In Your Face-book

America's new virtual town hall is one more debit check against the long term survival of our nation.  If people are exactly how they are portraying themselves on their wall, what is the future for us?  Really?

Oh, I'm not talking about those "friends" who can't help but tell me that they're stuck in traffic or enjoying a cupcake at Sprinkles.  That's the playful side of it all. 

But there are the others.  Folks who have virtually zero censorship when it comes to laying bare to the most intimate and uncomfortable moments of their life.  And it's there for all of us to see.

On Facebook, I'm watching friends on a collision course to disaster.  From the separate commentary from a husband and a wife, I see one marriage that I know will disintegrate within five years.  There are countless other tales of woe uploaded on a daily basis.  And I wonder if people ever read through what they have written even once before they hit "send."

Privacy has gone the way of Silly Putty eggs and hula hoops.  So has civility.  Facebook appears to be the official website of meanness.  And profanity.  And bad grammar.

One Facebook visit will have you convinced that most people can't construct a single sentence without the F bomb in it.  It's used liberally.  As a verb.  As an adjective.  As a noun.  As a past participle.  Frankly, I'd be surprised if folks are actually doing it as much as they're writing it.  Apparently, on Facebook, all rules of correct English are left on the "home" page.  It is a shameful indictment of just how dumb and offensive this country has become.

And then there's somebody I will refer to simply as "M."  Not to be confused with the Fritz Lang movie starring Peter Lorre.  "M" is a work colleague who somehow slipped into my Facebook friend list during a period where I was being incredibly lax about accepting on-line invitations.  Could-a, should-a, would-a.  Since "M" was one of the few who realized that all nouns must have a a verb in any given sentence, he presented no real Facebook issues for me.

Until we got to the recent elections. 

"M" is as liberal as you can get without having the last name of Kennedy.    Hey, it's a free world whether I agree with you or not.  But, not so with "M."  Over the past few weeks, I have watched "M" make wall postings that virtually lambast and insult anybody with even a soupcon of a difference of an opinion.  The guy lists several hundred friends.  With this attitude, I wonder how he even hits double digits.

"M's" Facebook activity includes a lot of love notes for the President.  Totally his prerogative to do so.  Except some of his friends like to counter them and add some comments.  What erupts is a cyberspace melee that has not been seen in this country since the Civil War pitted brother against brother.

If you disagree with "M," here are some of the names you will be called.

"Asshole."

"Lunatic."

"Un-American."

"Racist."

"Fascist."

All because you may have a different opinion than his.  Regardless of what you say, you will be wrong.  Because "M" is always right.

Just so you know, "M" is seemingly a normal White businessman in his low 30s.  He appears to be as sane as the rest of us that he is labelling as crazy.

I don't ever comment on his wall, but I find myself half-bemused and half-insulted at his on-line caterwauling.  Many of the "facts" he counters in arguments have long been validated as "untrue."  The day he started on relaying some thoughts on the Franklin Delano Roosevelt preisdency, I found my fingers slowly inching toward the keyboard.

You devout Len Speaks readers already know this.  I have read every book imaginable about FDR.  Not that I thought he was a terrific President.  Truth be told, historians are now calling Roosevelt's terms flawed in certain respects.  But, "M" clearly doesn't read what I read.  And he transposes one un-fact after another in an effort to show that only his opinion counts.

I could have easily exposed him, but chose not to.  I didn't need to be the twelfth man to join this fight.    In reality, "M" isn't worth an "E" for my effort.

I wonder what moves this man to be as nasty and shortsighted in full public view.  Does he act the same way when he is public?  Does he stoke the fires as willingly when he's out with friends?  Does he even have any friends to go out with?

Facebook is lauded as a social network.  The meeting place of the future.  The way generations will communicate for years to come.

And, yet, more and more and more, I see it simply as one more reason to hide under a bed.

Dinner last night:  Back in LA, proscuitto, peppers, and provolone panini.