As my Facebook family is mostly Christian, I recently posted a request that people think about what they post and post with love instead of trying to cause strife and anger. I worded it very carefully to not push against any side on all of the various volatile issues running rampant on today's social media. In return I ended up in a 'discussion' of my own because one Christian woman (friend of a friend) felt I was trying to silence her when she was trying to provide truth to illuminate issues.
After gracefully bowing out of the back and forth posts, I sat and wondered how my post could be taken that way after all my careful thought and wording. I wondered where the Facebook I joined was. The Facebook about connecting with friends, celebrating life's accomplishments, and occasionally sharing life's sorrows. It has been high-jacked by political agendas, anger, and self-righteousness. To me, it seems like the original purpose of Facebook has been lost to all this aggravation. I am reminded of Jesus throwing the moneychangers out of the temple. To paraphrase Andrew Lloyd Webber in the temple scene from Jesus Christ, Superstar (Ted Neely in screech rock singing style):
My Facebook should be a site of fun.
But you have made it site of strife.
Log-Off! Log-OFF!
I agree with both you and Dan. I also wrote a blog post similar to the topic a few weeks ago. I rarely engage online for fear of being misunderstood.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to this post so much! I haven't left Facebook yet. In fact, I recently found a group to share with for the latest class project. But, I've had a similar experience and it created such sadness for me.
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry you had to deal with this. I came across this issue during the last election actually. I have mentioned it before I believe as I too worded my post quite well and yet somehow got attacked too. I simply stated that I would hide those with political post from my timeline until the end of the election since I believed that FB was for those things you listed above and I got grief. So now, I just don't tell people when I hide them...problem solved :)
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