Facebook Politics

Facebook is a great forum for staying up to date on children and recent dining choices. It is a horrible forum for political discourse. 

Like so much political discussion today, Facebook arguments fail to follow proper debate procedure. In fairness to Facebook users, they’ve probably learned how to “debate” from television and radio political programs. Unfortunately, you can’t really yell on Facebook – ALL CAPS doesn’t count – and you can’t cut off other people in the middle of their comment to yell. (For the record, yelling louder doesn’t make you right.) So, instead of constructing a set of arguments and then countering those arguments, many Facebook exchanges veer way off topic and eventually deteriorate into the intellectual equivalent of “Oh yeah? Well, you’re a fatty fat fat.”

Not that many Facebook users are looking for an argument; many simply repost a graphic they found somewhere else and are looking for like-minded individuals to “like” it or leave some sort of reaffirming comment. It’s only when that non-like-minded Facebook friend – and if we’re being honest, it’s very often me – challenges the declaration that the problems start.

I have made a conscious effort to avoid Facebook debates, but it’s a difficult pledge to maintain.  It’s not that differing opinions bother me; as a trained journalist, I’m rather fond of the whole freedom of expression vibe. In fact, I welcome the presentation of differing viewpoints, because it makes me approach an issue from a perspective I may not have previously considered. (Granted, everyone else is still almost always wrong, but I appreciate the effort.) No, what prompts me to comment is an inaccurate post, most often a seriously skewed perception of reality that is presented as fact.

If you are silly enough to post something political, be prepared to be met with feedback that might not agree with your world view. Especially if you world view is incredibly narrow and one-sided. Which it most likely is if you’re making a political post on Facebook. Hard right conservatives push their morally superior agenda with righteous indignation, while equally radical liberals force feed their world view down our throats as well. Both sides of the political aisle clog up my newsfeed when I could be reading about who is eating the best burrito ever and where I can sample it. 

A large number of political posts are based around some silly graphic that lacks any real research and is about as intellectually deep as a “Hang on baby, Friday’s coming!” poster from the 1970s. It is vital that we all understand that attaching a caption to a picture of Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka (or some other innocuous image from popular culture) is not a solid foundation for a political argument. It’s also intellectually dishonest, because it presupposes that a children’s literary character who imprisoned a race of little people for the sake of producing candy products would agree with your position. Truth be told, he’d probably tell you where to shove your everlasting gobstopper. 

To be safe, avoid all images unless they are charts. If they are charts, make sure you include the source, lest you be confused with a mindless sheep merely reposting what you have been instructed to repost by someone using you to help them make an unsubstantiated political point.

Speaking of unsubstantiated points, avoid sweeping generalizations. One friend recently wrote: “Regardless of your feelings about Obama, he clearly has the best interests of this country and its citizens at the forefront of his every decision.” This is, of course, nonsense. Not only can we not verify such an idea, but no one who has the best interests of our country would endorse the debt-heavy budgets he has proposed. President Obama’s 2013 budget was rejected 99-0 by the U.S. Senate and 414-0 in the House; his 2012 budget was voted down 97-0 by the Senate as well. In general, generalizations are generally too general. Stick to the facts and make your point. Better yet, go eat a cupcake instead of making a political post, then post about how good it tasted. 

Don’t antagonize. I admit that I have been guilty of this on more than one occasion. I like to post a comment on a current political topic, then sit back and watch others get pissy. In essence, I stir the Internet-based pot. It is extremely entertaining, but it is also naughty, naughty behavior. I’m trying to show more restraint, but when the commander-in-chief misses more than half of his daily intelligence briefings, for example, it’s hard not to comment. 

Fact: Gas prices have more than doubled since President Barack Obama took office. Fact: Gas prices also spiked during the Bush Administration. Opinion: Mitt Romney is a better choice for president than Barack Obama. It’s not that difficult to distinguish between fact and opinion, so don’t confuse the two. And please, please try to get your facts right. A simple Google search is all I ask. 

Finally, if you find you simply must start a debate, choose a topic that can evokes emotion, but won’t get people quoting the Bible or condemning an entire political party. Take Robin Zander, for example. He’s the lead singer for Cheap Trick and is easily one of the most underrated front men in rock music. Vocally, he sings rings around Robert Plant or Mick Jagger. Discuss. 

See? Now the conversation can branch into a dozen directions, none of them involving tax records, birth certificates, hidden camera videos, or Bill Ayers (unless he fronted a successful rock band and no one told me). Oh sure, feelings can still be hurt – Zeppelin fans are known to be whiny, thin-skinned little prigs that have logged way too many Jimmy Page air guitar sessions in the mirror – but more likely it’ll spark a renewed interest in an album or CD that’s been sitting untouched on your shelf for far too long. And it’ll be one less Willy Wonka picture in my newsfeed.

Political debate is important, it really is, but please find a forum other than Facebook to share your feelings on the subject. Now, before I am tempted to mention that you actually don’t have a Constitutional right to vote in federal elections, I’m going to go eat a cupcake. It’s yellow cake with chocolate fudge frosting from the Publix bakery, and it has a colorful plastic decoration on top. I might even post a picture. God bless America.