This is a public service announcement or at least a post that is designed to protect my mental health:
May I respectfully ask that before you post something derogatory about someone you have never met, just because it suits your political agenda, that you fact check it first?
Social media, ok Facebook, has become a hotbed of memes and reposts from people who identify with one political party or the other. As I scan my feed, my heart rate increases faster than it does on a four-mile run. My blood starts to boil and a tightness forms in my chest. All because of posts that attack total strangers and defend the truly egregious behavior of others. I read them all with my mind as open as it can be, and then I fact check them. Guess what? Most of the truly troubling ones are incorrect. #fakenews
It is so easy to take things out of context or to hang on to falsehoods as the gospel truth if they reinforce your theories. So please, take a moment to check if they are real facts or “alternate facts” before you post them.
Could you also please stop politicizing all the things that aren’t the least bit political? The college bribery scandal? Not political. Plane crash? Tragic, but still not political. Bad things happen that have nothing to do with being a Democrat or a Republican and everything to do with being a bad person. Let’s address them as such.
If you choose to post malicious memes, true or false, please don’t intersperse your feed with religious prose and other tropes that paint you as a wonderful caring human being who loves all God’s children. It is inconsistent with the rest of your behavior and makes you look disingenuous. Pick a lane.
You may be asking yourself why I don’t simply un-follow the people that trigger me. The answer is that I believe it is important to know that these beliefs and attitudes exist. It is important to see both sides of the story and not just dismiss things that I don’t agree with. That is why I fact check anything that doesn’t sound quite right to me, regardless of who posted it and what it is about.
Social media has given us a forum to say whatever we want, whether it is true or false, naughty or nice. It has allowed hate, bigotry, and vengeance to seep out of our pores and onto the page without a second thought. It’s allowed us to take as fact anything we see and agree with, without questioning its provenance. As a nation, we are more divided than ever and will continue to be so if something doesn’t change. We more easily accept bad behavior from friends, family, colleagues, and clients than ever before because we see our leaders behaving badly and getting by with it. As children, we were taught that two wrongs don’t make a right. As adults, we need to live that truth. If we want our society to do better, it starts with us showing respect to one another, rather than showing disrespect to our political rivals.
So please, think twice before you fill your feed with malicious attacks against your political foes and ask yourself if this is representative of the person you want to be perceived as. If the answer is no, the delete button is at the top right-hand side of your computer.
Thank you. That is all.
Indigo jones 