I posted this back in May 2012. I still think it's appropriate today and so I'm repeating it for today. I doubt it will make a difference, but I'll feel better after posting it, so that's what counts right now.
I have many friends, due to the social media giant Facebook, plus other sites.
In fact, any site where there's a discussion board, you can learn about people that share similar interests. I've also been able to connect with a lot of long lost friends because of these social networks.
One thing I've found through the years is that people like to spout off on discussion boards about their political leanings. This, in my opinion, is a bad thing. Mainly because most of the time, all those political discussions do is cause arguments to start. And although a good flame war can be very entertaining from time to time, it's not something that I relish, nor something that I seek out.
I like you as a friend. I liked you when we were in school together. We talked about a lot of different things, but we really didn't talk about religion or politics. Those were the things we were told as kids that we shouldn't talk about. Hmmmm. Maybe our parents were right.
I would prefer to maintain these friendships in the coming years. Talking politics makes that more difficult. Social media has brought many of us closer together and helped us reconnect with our past friendships that we let drift apart over the years. I would really love it if I didn't know the political affiliations of my friends. I just want to be friends with them. Now, that might make me appear to be like an ostrich with its head buried in the sand. At the moment, that's OK with me.
So here's my plea to all of my friends and I fully expect to be flamed for this, but I'm going to say it anyway. Please keep your politics to yourself. Think about what you're posting. There's too much vitriol out there to add to it. Your position on almost any political or religious subject is not going to convince anyone on the other side to change their position on the given subject. All it's going to do is cause an argument where everyone will believe they're right and the other person is wrong.
My friend, I fully agree with you.
ReplyDeleteWhat are the two things in this world that start wars and such more than anything? Politics and religion.
When it comes to social media, blogging and real life, I avoid each like the plague. I don't enjoy talking about them and I definitely don't enjoy arguing about them. I've been known to unfriend, unfollow, and/or "ignore" those who do it too much. I wish more would heed your advice.
The thing about each of these topics? It's rare to be able to ever sway somebody, so why even deal with all the potential fallout?
I keep all my beliefs to myself because they are personal and I like it when others do the same.
If you'd ever like to share this post, Paul, I'd love for you to guest post it over at my blog sometime. This was well done.
P.J. If you like, I'd gladly guest post this on your blog. The more people that see it, the better we might be able to affect some change in our overall thought processes.
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