Facebook Politics

Very rarely do I make political posts on Facebook.  I used to, years ago.  But then I started using Twitter, Tumblr, and Reddit.  These days I like to keep my Facebook clean and fluffy, with mostly cat pictures and vacation photos.  I use the other sites (including this blog) to vent about politics.

Not that my friends don't know my politics.  I still click "like" on my friends' political posts, and occasionally comment, so I doubt I have a lot of Facebook friends who think I'm a Republican.  But for me, Facebook is now a place to show off what's going on in my life, not a place to start fights.

But I do think others should be allowed to post whatever they want.  It's their page, their decision.  If somebody starts to post too many annoying things, I'll unfollow them.  Very rarely do I actually unfriend someone over politics, when it's just as easy just to change my settings so that I no longer see their posts.  

Okay, I have unfriended one guy over politics, but that's because I really couldn't see any reason to keep him in my life - he wasn't family or an old high school friend or anything, just a guy I played D&D with before he moved out of state.  And he really did have despicable political opinions.

But 99% of the time, I feel that it's better to just mute or unfollow the people who annoy you, rather than unfriend them.  What I definitely won't do is ask people to police what they post on their own pages.  About ten years ago, this one friend kept asking people not to curse in their Facebook posts any more, because her son had just started using Facebook.  

Um... no.  I mean, I can't remember ever using foul language on my own Facebook status updates, so I'm probably not one of the people she was complaining about, but still, no.  You don't get to ask that.  Facebook is a place where we get to be ourselves, and it's not our job to present a false version of ourselves just to protect your kid from seeing certain combinations of letters.

I have this one friend... well, high school friend, I haven't actually spoken to him in years... who often complains about people making political posts.  The thing is, he posts plenty of political memes of his own.  He claims to be apolitical, but he really likes stirring the pot.  He'll post something controversial to his page, wait until a good argument gets going in the comments, then reply with, "This is why I never make political posts."

Recently a few more of my friends have started complaining about political posts.  But here's the thing.  We are three months away from a presidential election.  Three months.  You are going to see political posts.  Even if this were a normal year, you would expect to see a lot of politics right now.  But 2020 isn't just any year.  This is the year of COVID and police brutality.  And the incumbent candidate might well be the biblical Antichrist.  It would be insane not to expect political posts.

If you really can't stand politics, you should probably stay off Facebook until December, or at least start muting your most political friends.  Remember, you can mute someone for a month, or you can unfollow someone permanently (or until you change your mind).  They don't see it when you do this, so it's not going to offend them.  And it's a much better solution than unfriending them.