I Saw What You Liked On Facebook

Yesterday, thanks to Facebook, I happened to see an article a friend “liked” because it popped up in my newsfeed. I don’t remember the specific name of the article, but it went something like this, “People who vote for ___________ are hypocrites.” She didn’t post it on her timeline, but Facebook was kind enough to show me in the little “scrolly thingy”(technical name) on the right-hand side of the screen that my friend had “liked” something. I was curious and looked.

You know that feeling when you overhear a discussion about you? Now I know exactly what my friend thinks about me. She thinks that people like me are hypocrites. At least she must have thought it for a moment. It’s probable in all the clicking and liking she was not thinking about me, but that is lost in the message. I’m too tired to have any more anger and disgust over this year’s political season. What I am feeling, though, is sadness. I’m also feeling regret because I’ve probably posted or liked similar things.

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Why is it that politics brings out the worst in us? Why do we post things and “like” things online that declare that people we consider friends are ignorant, uninformed, hypocritical, dangerous, etc., . . .?

I’m tired of the insults. I’m weary of the smugness. I’m over all the attacks.

Can we feel strongly about how one should vote and still extend the benefit of the doubt to people? Can we learn from this year’s deeply-divided presidential election cycle that good people can have different political opinions? I think we can make our case without being unkind.

Can we post less of this:

Voters for a third party are delusional.

Voters for Hilary don’t care about national security.

Voters for Trump are uneducated.

 

I’d rather see a positive case made for your person. Like this:

 

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