The Various Faces of Facebook

I have taken to Facebook recently. Since the summer I have jumped into it arguing various positions. Of course it was the election, the politics that pushed me there and continue to hold me there. My post range from the simply absurd, to amusing, to quite serious and sincere. At times serious discussions have evolved with different opinions and positions being offered. It offers both hope and frustration.

Surprisingly, I do find that Facebook is a tool to sharpen one's writing skills. It is a place to practice and experiment with thoughts and ideas with often instant feedback Of course you are limited in what you write contingent upon the audience you have. With some creativity, however, you can at times broaden that spectrum, but in the end it is not a journal. 

In one sense it reminds me of the movie "The Matrix". If you recall they could quickly load into their mind how to do Kung Fu or fly a helicopter. It is similar here. Things that I would normally be timid to state as I am unsure of the facts, can with Wikipedia, and other sources be quickly confirmed and applied. There are of course limits upon that. 

In other cases, where the discussion for whatever reason has taken a turn for the worst, you can easily just offer up an appropriate YouTube clip, absurd or apropos. I am often reaching for the Monty Python clips. In the end though, like the Matrix, it is limited, and leaves you desiring real dialogue and people.

So it has it limits, but again I do think it is a place to experiment and explore ideas. That said, I do think there is a flaw. Yes I am a very slow learner. The flaw, however, in Facebook is the simple fact that you can just delete those you disagree with. 

I was for several weeks going back and forth with a woman who holds positions quite different from my own. And here I was working on a response to something she had posted. I was for several minutes trying to respond. Trying to hit enter and post my response. And she just disappeared. I mean her history of interactions with me were gone. Her page, at least to me, was gone. All were now gone. I thought perhaps the Facebook police removed her? I doubt that happened. After awhile I came to doubt that happened. She was not doing anything obscene or threatening. 

I did not ponder that perhaps she had defriended me. I kept reading the Facebook statement saying that they could not find or that I did not have access to the person whose wall I was trying to post on. And then it dawned on me.  

I have to assume she could not deal with my tedious and annoying posts and removed me from her friends. A simple note or response, an Instant message saying, "hey you are getting annoying" would have sufficed. It was a shame, as I was actually wanting to discuss substantially her views on philanthropy, and education. She had suggested in a previous post that foundations and charitable organizations were not to be greeted with open arms. These were thoughts very different from mine and intriguing, But all gone, like a fart in the wind as they said in Shawshank.

So I am disappointed in her for not sharing her annoyance, if that was fact the way it went down. And if this in fact what happened, it is not good. It is not a model we either can or want to mimic in the real world. We cannot afford to just ignore and / or defriend each other.