I keep doing this thing where I have some marijuana, then I start thinking about how weird Facebook is. I know two people who aren't on Facebook. It's so woven into out lives and lifestyles that we would all experience at least some sense of loss if Facebook were to disappear tomorrow. It's a great organizational tool for anything social.
But there's something about it that's really started to bother me. Something I can't stop thinking about. I hate how it has become a universal pulpit. I've blocked people because of persistent posts with opinions I don't agree with. Is this something I should even do? Some i find down right repugnant. I certainly don't feel the need to post all my inner thoughts and opinions out there for everyone to read. Even this blog is not that. It would be utterly alienating if I did that.
I don't want to be the type of person who feels frustration about some aspect of life, then expects society to fall in line because of my frustration. I fully recognize that the frustration I experience could be the result of my own need to feel like my beliefs and values ought to not be challenged. Like my values require defending. As though some small part of me doesn't quite believe the way I perceive the world is really correct. Like I'm lacking the confidence of knowing I am right about how i see the world. Is this why reading opposing views from people I love seems to hurt me?
I was thinking the other day that there should be a separate social networking site where everyone can post all their opinions about everything. Just opinion diarrhea. That way Facebook can be filled with pictures of kids and cats and hiking. Memes and games and jokes.
But this is not the point of Facebook or of the roll it plays in our society. It is the free platform of mass expression. No matter what, you can pretty much say what you want on Facebook. If I take such offensive to someone's political stance on whatever, maybe the problem is really for me to deal with.
I'm writing this because, for some reason, I feel like I have to. Probably for the same exact reason why people need to comment on every blip on the radar screen of mass media. The apparent need to say what one feels is only outweighed by the ease of doing so.