I was having an on line discussion with someone over several days about same sex marriage….. (I’m voting yes – they have an ‘It’s okay to vote no’ banner on their profile picture) on the only true social commentary site of any validity…. Facebook!?
I made several comments. always respectful, always based on facts and often said I was interested and wanted to hear their arguments. I did not once swear, use offensive or abusive language. Dare I say I was actually interested in what they had to say about why they were voting no as in one comment the said it wasn’t based on any religious grounds – I was a bit keen on hearing their argument.
Of course on Facebook where this was all taking place it is often hard to not have a few peripheral friends wade in to ‘assist’. This was unfortunate when I received the following comment from a friend of the Facebook friend I was taking to…
“Harry Connor Jr. Firstly, look up Agenda 21, a globalist agenda being forced upon all nations under the Globalist Banking Cartel under the Illuminati. Only three more nations left to control, Iran, North Korea, and Cuba. Then research gender laws in progressive states worldwide. Go deep in your research. Start reading alternative news sources rather than the Globalist controlled MSM, aka “Fake News”, which is strong on Psy Ops and Agi Pro. I won’t explain all of these things as it is best if you do your own research. Also be aware that the big tech companies now control 99% of the data, and are censoring search in support of this Agenda 21. The Illuminatti is Luciferian to it’s core! Do all of this, if you dare! p.s. They are watching this thread (FB is a CIA front and a Globalist shill, (keywords and keyphrases), I can guarantee it!
I replied to the above input from Harry nicely “Okay, thanks Harry, I think you have answered all my questions” – and honestly I believe he did, mostly about Harry….
A strange interlude occurred during the above on line debate in that I met the person with the ‘vote no banner’ in real life shortly after – they had actually ‘complained’ that if I ever spoke to them in real life I may get to know them better. A fair comment I thought. I resolved to do that the next time I saw them in the vain of extending our Facebook friendship to the three dimensional world – maybe I would learn something.
So on the above occasion, when we did meet (in real life) I did…. I breached all electronic interconnectivity rules and said “Hello, how are you today”. I received a curt reply “Is that sarcasm”…. I said “Um, no, it was just hello?” They stopped talking to me and I did the same – I was starting to think I was in some sort of a no win trap here set by an social media evil genius. I was feeling outgunned so did something unusual and kept quiet….
I didn’t post any more on line and was just happy to let it all go for peace sake.
I logged on this morning and was devastated – I had been ‘defriended’ (not by Harry above) but by my Facebook friend. It did appear that I had overstepped the mark in real life by saying hello and as such had received the ultimate social slap in the face by being ‘DEFRIENDED ON FACEBOOK’ !!!!!!
Oh, the social shame and horror. There is a silver lining in that I suspect this action may be seen by those who do it as a result of failing to justify their arguments, opinions and ideas as a justification for those same arguments, opinions and ideas – irony and hypocrisy in one neat little package – but, who am I to judge. It is a sad social media truism that in this particular debate on same sex marriage it again has come down to using the ultimate social media ‘debate winning’ tools of:
- Judging and vilifying people who you don’t agree with….
- Using what is supposed to be one of the ‘most offensive words’ for a female, by a female…. (albeit by using a clever and dare I say mildly amusing meme…)
- Defriending on Facebook….
- But my favourite part of this entire process is the many likes, thumbs ups and supporting comments for the abuse and offensive language by those who up until that point had no input in the debate (other than Harry who did not stoop to abuse in the debate but at least presented his argument, albeit not something I would have correlated with this particular subject – I am going to contact him later, perhaps, about the ‘flat earth’ theory and those pesky fake Apollo moon missions….).
Social media is such a great place to share an opinion or a belief (or hopefully sometimes an idea)…. but, it must always be remembered that when you do this, what people may never have known about you, or perhaps may have only suspected, becomes obviously apparent by your post – and a lot of the time this may not be a good thing…..
‘Defriending’ people on social media is such an easy thing, just a click of the mouse. Being ‘defriended’ can sometimes sting a little bit, but then again, it is perhaps more of a reflection of that person, who most probably was never a real life ‘friend’ in the first place.
In the past I have ‘defriended’ people. In the two major occasions I have done this it has been in real life (I just had a thought in that I have never defriended anyone on Facebook – yeah I hide their news fed so I don’t have to listen to diatribe or self indulgence that brings a little bit of sick into my mouth – but I have never defriended anyone. I suspect because in doing so you perhaps give the situation more attention that what it’s worth, even though it is just one small mouse click away.)
I have had to tell someone they were not only not adding any value or joy to my life but I was troubled in that I believed they were making my life much worse and on one occasion even dangerous. I did it nicely and wished them well. I even say hello whenever the planets align and we are in the same space together – even have a chat and hope they are doing well.
Defriending and friending are perhaps a greater indication of us than them. Perhaps in the future I will spend a little more time cultivating my friendships – where ever they may be situated – instead of filling my time with the non-friends I do not yet have.