Politics, mob rule and social media—what I’ve learned

So in the last few weeks I’ve been paying attention to politics on Facebook. I’d been very intentionally ignoring it up til then because we were miles away from the actual election and I don’t need to decide what I believe in since I already know.

So one day, a few weeks ago, I started to actually look at the political stuff in my feed, scan the articles, read some of the comments and move on. It was intense. I mean, I’ve been a political junkie on and off for many years but things were more intense than I’d seen them since people in Florida were counting chads.

As is my habit, I made a general statement/observation about a certain set of supporters of a certain candidate. To me it was light, somewhat humorous and meant to illicit a laugh. Instead I was attacked. This not only stunned me but made me reexamine my statement to see if it’d been really inflammatory. Nope. Still seemed relatively mild to me. And then from there, I was hooked and frankly until the last couple of days, haven’t come up for air.

So after my foray into the depths of the political trenches I’ve learned the following:

1. Some of your friends are willing to toss you aside for a stranger who makes promises they can’t keep.
2. People can become so invested in someone they are willing to call you every and any name in the book including skank, whore, bitch, and worse.
3. The anonymity of the Internet emboldens people to spew hatred, vitriol and insanity everywhere they travel.
4. Some people will believe absolutely anything despite a mountain of facts that categorically disprove that belief.
5. There is no low too low for some people.
6. Logic often has no place in politics and frequently is the first victim to be thrown under the bus.
7. Some people are more than happy to ruin others’ lives simply because the do not agree with them.
8. Free speech is relegated, apparently, to only the chosen few.
9. Fairness, objectivity, and truth is a matter of opinion.
10. You cannot convince an angry person of anything.
11. To some, winning justifies any tactic, no matter how abhorrent, despicable and dirty.
12. Many people don’t actually do any research on the candidate they champion and when that is pointed out, you better be wearing full body armor.
13. There are a lot of angry people out there who are misdirecting their anger at total strangers on the Internet.
14. I long for the days when cute cat videos were the most popular thing on the Internet.
15. Apparently anybody can run for president these days and people will treat them like they know what they’re talking about. Hey – maybe I should run.
16. I trust my dog more than most politicians.
17. Going to a political rally is a lot more dangerous than it used to be.
18. Orange has become a really popular color – not with me, I look terrible in orange.
19. According to the polls, the presumed candidates for the November election are two of the most disapproved of people in America.
20. So far, nobody has attacked any candidates’ pets, but give it time.

How about you? Enjoying the current political happenings? Have you been trolled, flamed, attacked or is it just a barrel of laughs as far as your concerned? Learned anything or is just politics as usual? Feel free to observe, vent or yammer in the comments.

 

Peace out, Writer Chick