Friends...Easy Come, Easy Go.

I know, I know. I hardly ever post anything on here anymore. Let me tell you a little story.

About eleven months ago, I discovered this little website called Facebook. Maybe you've heard of it. Before long, I was reconnecting with old classmates and friends, old and new, some of whom I hadn't talked to in over 20 years. It was cool.

After a few months on Facebook, I started to post an occasional political link or comment on the political topic du jour. What I found was an outlet where I would receive immediate feedback on whatever I posted. I could actually have a discussion with people about the topic in real time. Some agreed with me, some did not. I loved it. I was able to get valuable insight into what my conservative friends thought and why they thought it. In return, I could give my point of view, rebut any fallacies that they brought up and generally engage in what was sometimes a healthy political discussion.

Of course, I had to take the good with the bad. It turns out some of the people were only capable of spouting whatever weak talking points they had heard on whichever crazy tv/radio personalities show they had most recently had the misfortune of experiencing. Once I carved through their weak argument they had nothing further to say. In fact, I found that many of them couldn't even put together a concrete argument about anything they had mentioned. Their beliefs were only "sound bite" deep.

Jackpot! I thought. These are the people who I can really reach. I can show them the truth about some of these topics and get them to think about things independently instead of just believing whatever nonsense they hear from the conservative talking heads. I can present them with the other side of the coin and maybe they'll change their mind, maybe they won't. But at least this way they could get more than one perspective.

So I started posting more and more political topics and really enjoyed the back and forth conversation that some of those topics would induce. It was fun. I was learning some things and I hoped that my Facebook friends were too.

Then one day I attempted to go to a friends page to wish him a happy birthday when I realized that I was no longer listed as his friend. He had "unfriended" me. I was shocked then saddened when I realized that the only likely explanation was that he "unfriended" me because of my political views. So I checked my friendship status with a few other friends who I knew to be conservatives and believe it or not I had lost at least 4 "friends" that I could remember for sure.

Here I was, thinking that I was doing a good thing, providing friends with valuable information that could help shape their opinion on a myriad of topics, only to find out that the very people who most desperately needed to hear these things were deleting me as their friend. I was shocked. I mean, I was doing this for THEM!

So that made me reevaluate the whole political talk on Facebook thing. It was a wake up call for sure. I learned that some people, no matter what evidence is put before them, are going to continue to believe what they want to believe and there's not a damn thing you can do to change them.

That is why you're always going to have people tuning into Beck, Limbaugh, Fox News, et al. Because these people tell those people what they want to hear. Hating black people doesn't make you a racist. Cheering for the failure of our President doesn't make you a traitor to your country. You feel this way because there is a vast conspiracy by a Socialist/Fascist Kenyan born dictator who is bent on destroying everything you are told you believe in. After all, your favorite TV station tells you this 24/7/365 so it must be OK to believe it.

But what the hell, if you're going to be a paranoid, racist, America hating loser, at least you can tune in with the rest of your ilk and not feel like you are all alone. But I digress.

Anyway, it has been a really enlightening experience. It is also the reason that I haven't blogged very often lately. Perhaps that will change now that the lesson has been learned.