I Need A Ride...

What is it about 'social media' that makes people so unsocial? I'm pretty unhappy this morning after yesterday's adventures in 'keeping in touch'. Turns out it's no more social out there than it ever was. The keyboards are humming with invective. Parsed by vacation pics and recipes is a veritable feast of forwards, rumors and internet outrage generators. I guess I'm supposed to be angry at someone or something all the time. I can't do it. 

I made the mistake of venturing back out into the 'social' world because I thought I might catch up with some of my old crew from the team and maybe even a rink-rat or two. I don't actually hate Fb per se but I got weary and wary so I put it on the back burner. I used it a lot for the team and have quite a few real-world friends that I can't keep in touch with any other way. It's useful at times but then there's days...

Like I said, I've been running pretty light on it for a bit while I sorted out my personal life so I kind of held my nose and dipped my toes back in. Foolishly I posted some photos and ride maps. 

Shortly thereafter, I got called out for failing to notify anyone that I was going for a Monday ride with my sweetheart, ridiculed for a post and indirectly called a Nazi sympathizer and a liberal snowflake. These are the friends I haven't blocked.

The one about the ride alone blew up into over 20 posts...most of which got deleted when it became apparent I was too naive to get the tone as intended. Turns out I'm snark-impaired. One woman apologized which was nice (and accepted) but the genii doesn't go back in the bottle well.

As for the one about being a Nazi...that came from a meme that wasn't directly addressed to me but since the friend posting it has to know or hope that I'll read it, it counts. You see, I have a fairly liberal slant so a post comparing liberals to Nazis hits pretty close. Aside from being a blatant violation of Godwin's Law, it just wasn't true...particularly about me. If anyone was trying to persuade me to change my viewpoint, a Third Reich reference is a poor place to start. If anyone cared. Apparently they don't.

I get that on your page, you can post whatever you want. You can offend to your hearts content and go for all the shock value the platform standards will allow. Or you can not. You can put up kitten pics or tell the world what you had for lunch (oh wait...that's Twitter). If you're going the personal opinion route though, it pays to remember the old saying about opinions and assholes...everyone has them but nobody wants to see yours. Everyone does love kitten pics. Just an observation...

I also understand that I don't have to look. If I'm "offended" (which became a derogatory term in itself somehow), I can just block you. Believe me...I have and I will. It seems a little ridiculous though with my privacy settings being what they are that I have to scrub my newsfeed every day. These are from people I want to be in contact with. Why does it often feel like the day I opened up an 18" sewer main and found out exactly where it was plugged? I don't dump stuff because I disagree. I flush it because it's awful. Some of it the junk that shows up has been around since I had a PS-1. Some of it is so bad that it isn't even wrong. A fair share is not only insulting but it insults your intelligence reading it. I want to talk to people, not read all-caps 'scary' rumors, phishing forwards and flat earth conspiracy bullshit. At some point doesn't it make sense to stop abusing the people who are allegedly your friends? The ones you want to hear what you have to say? The ones who don't always agree?

After all, your argument is not really much of an argument if you're preaching to the choir. That's not a debate, that's a pep rally. Yes you'll be pretty safe in that mirrored bubble you end up with...where everyone nods and forwards 'amen' but trust me in this...a bubble isn't that much different from a cell and mirrors are all black on the inside. If you stare long into the abyss...

Come out and play and I'll happily argue and debate all day long but I'm not going to be berated because I disagree. And at least do a cursory search before you come at me with something that 'the mainstream media will never tell'. Who knows...come armed with facts instead of insults and you might change my mind. I might change yours. What a concept.

Just remember that in my world, your point is automatically invalid as soon as you resort to terms like 'snowflake', 'cuck', 'lib (or anything else) tard". You give up your high ground when you call people by racial or sexual or economic snarl words. And if there's even a passing reference to infowars or any of that ilk as actual facts...we're done.

The point is, and I know this has been said a million times...why would you say something online that if it was said in person, could end a friendship, demolish Thanksgiving dinner or start a bar fight? You know who's going to see what you post. Maybe you don't care who it hurts. Maybe it doesn't even matter if it's true. Maybe it's easier to buckshot some snarky, mean thing than engage. Maybe if you shut down everything except what you want to see and hear, your opinion becomes your truth.

Maybe that's where we are. But that's not social...it's sociopathic.

And yes...I need a ride.