What I was thinking about at lunch…….I should probably just delete it, but here it is.

You know on Facebook there is no dislike button.  There is a scam that gets going every now and then.  I’m not sure if its just a run of the mill hoax or it there is some kind of virus attached to it.  My general rule of thumb is I don’t click links on Facebook, unless I’m 100% sure I should.  I think we all should be well versed enough with the digital age to know that we shouldn’t click on certain kinds of links found on Facebook, in emails, or on other internet sites.

This brings me back to the “dislike” feature that Facebook does not have.  Some people think we should have a “dislike” option on postings.  I for one, am glad that we do not.  The internet has turned a lot of us into an argumentative group of individuals.  Already you can post “It’s a bright, beautiful, sunshiny day!!!!” and some where along the way someone just might post something negative.

Just go to any internet site that allows comments and you will see what I’m talking about.  It’s not so much the difference of opinions that I’m talking about as it is the rudeness.  The belligerence, contentious, and combative replies.  If I say “It’s a good day.” and you reply “It’s a bad day.  Maybe tomorrow will be a better day for me.”  Fine, that’s a difference of opinion.  But if I say “It’s a good day.” and you reply “Are you out of your ever loving mind!!!  What the hell are you talking about??  This is the worse day ever.  You don’t know what you’re talking about.  Haven’t you watched the news!!??”  Well that’s just a tad rude.  In my opinion.

“In my opinion.”  That’s what a lot of commenters say.  That’s sort of like “don’t get me wrong” or “I hope you don’t take this wrong.”  or demanding (politely) some sort of reference to their “sources”.

I have found that the demands for sources usually surfaces in political or theological statements.  Now we’ve all been told not to bring up politics or religion at the dinner table or sometimes even family gatherings.  So when you post a political or religious statement on Facebook, beware.  You have opened yourself up for a debate.  This is when it can get ugly.  Generally on Facebook it may not be your own friends that waylay you, but the friends of friends.  If its your own friends that become rude, ugly, and begin the name calling, it may be time to reconsider your friends list.

When people request “sources” or “where did you get your information?” I must say, I chuckle just a bit.  I think most of us know we can pull just about anything to support our “opinion”.  Its funny to me to see people become some kind of  self appointed expert in a particular area.  I also think its hilarious that someone thinks that they can listen and read up on a political candidate and be able to discern the truth.  At this time of the year in the political cycle and generally any other time, politicians (ALL politicians) say what they think their constituents want to hear.

I’m sick of the arguments about politics.  Whoever is in the White House, whoever is in congress, whoever sits in the senate, they could care less about what is going on amongst the run of the mill working class American.  The big corporations run this country and they run the world.   We as individuals have relatively no rights as compared to the military industry, pharmaceutical, energy, agribusiness (just ask any family farmer), and the banking industry.  These industries run the world.

Actually when I think about it, it’s really very depressing.  We have lost all control.  Politicians, all politicians, are in the pockets of these industries.  I believe that there will have to be a revolution.  I think eventually there will be.  Maybe not in my life time.  I sometimes go back and read this editorial by Steven Van Zandt.  I think its well thought out, but you may have a different opinion and that’s okay.

Well, I really did not mean to go off in this direction.  But I will let it stand, because that’s the way I feel.  I started off with the absence of a dislike button on Facebook.  What I wanted to say is, let’s just be nice to each other.  Everyone is entitled to their opinion and their beliefs.  Its okay to disagree with someone in a considerate way.  But why try to belittle them?  No one person has the right to condemn another human being because of their opinions or beliefs.