Mad props to Mark Zuckerberg for creating a website that has shaped how over 1.5 billion people communicate with each other. Seriously, pat yourself on the back Mark. Facebook is where I can discover that my lab partner got engaged, Susie's birthday party was poppin' (she had a clown ew) and my broke college friend adopted a puppy (awww.) If you go on vacation to Bora Bora and you don't create an entire Facebook album full of pictures, did you even go to Bora Bora? Facebook to me is a tool for keeping up with the lives of my friends and family. There is no way I could keep in touch with 800 people over the phone and snail mail, so we cannot discount how big of a blessing Facebook really is. In the past year or so, however, I have contemplated deleting Facebook at least once a week. The reason is simple and it's a dirty little word that starts with a D: "Drama." In particular, political drama.
In less than three months I will have a degree in Political Science. Clearly I love politics enough to want to spend every spare moment learning all about it. What drives me up a wall is how politics have become the black plague of Facebook. Scrolling through my timeline is like walking down a road with land mines planted along the path. Maybe on the road I get to see a cute baby or congratulate a friend on a promotion, but then BAM I scroll down to see that Joe Shmoe from my night class posted a racist video. Now I'm too busy being infuriated over Joe Shmoe's ignorance to even swoon over the cute baby picture I just saw. Don't even get me started on Great Aunt Carol or Grandma Missy. Once they get home from work and pop on over to Facebook they repost the "inspirational facts" about America's greatest issues set on a background of one of the following: an American Flag, camouflage, a bald eagle or some strange combination of all three. No Aunt Carol, I don't think that Obama is a socialist, communist, anti-Christ sent here to ruin America forever.
Aside from personal opinions on the issues, there are countless websites out there who generate revenue from traffic only. Essentially fake news website can write whatever they want in an article as long as they think it will get a ton of shares (money for them), They then give it a completely misleading title such as "Obama Spits on Homeless WWII Purple Heart Recipient on his Way to $1 Million Dollar Vacation."
Moral of the story? Have an opinion on the political issues by all means! Just follow these simple rules so Facebook isn't ruined for all of us. 1.) Form your opinions based on reputable news sources, not random articles from Facebook. 2.) Show your stance by voting in the election or volunteering for a campaign. 3.) Don't post offensive crap on Facebook. All that it does is piss off half of your friends for no good reason. Posting your crazy political views all over my timeline of giggling babies and giraffe videos will only make me resent you. If all else fails and you find yourself annoyed at someone in particular, you can always do what I do and press "unfollow." Let's restore Facebook back to its original purpose: sharing life moments and creeping on old friends.
In case you needed a chaser for that article, here is a video of a Bald Eagle attacking The Donald.
