Appreciation for the annoying “political” friend

No matter where you fall on the political spectrum most of us understand the social cues to not discuss politics with one another in person. Thanks to the internet and social media it’s easier than ever for anyone to voice their opinions (good, or bad) about any given subject, and not feel bound by those social obligations and cues to keep our opinions in order to avoid causing an argument with others.

I’m sure when you read that you immediately thought of someone on your newsfeed who posts those annoying political pages and rants long opionated things that you probably think serve no other purpose than to annoy anyone who reads them. You probably even have, or at least thought of unfollowing or unfriending these people and then possibly wanting to avoid them in real life. We all have people we know who think they’re “politically informed” but in reality they are just sharing whatever new piece of political propaganda popped up on the screen in front of them.

And I’m not saying its just one group of people politically who do this. I see people in my newsfeed who are both either really republican or really democratic who are just continually spewing political garbage online. I’m talking about the stuff that is just downright nonsense, “Hillary is a sea witch” or “Trump is a robot” the type of stuff that anyone who is old enough to read should be mature and informed enough not to share and honestly believe is real.

While we all have that annoying friend or two online I think we might own them more credit than we give them. If the person online is someone we don’t actually know in real life then they are probably not going to be able to get us to listen to anything they say politically.

But what happens when the person who spreads tons of political posts that we don’t agree with politically is someone that we are friends with in real life. What if it’s our best friend or our close relative? What if the person sharing what we thing is political nonsense is someone that we like, trust or even look up to?

What I’m getting at here is it’s important to have these crazy and ridiculous posts in our lives in this day in age. While we might not agree with them they can be the start to a conversation. If we just block and unfriend anyone who disagrees with us politically then were never going to even hear what the other side of the idle is trying to say. If the person sharing crazy politically stories is someone you actually like in real life then you’re a lot more likely to actually read what they’re talking about (even if it is total nonsense). And when both sided of any argument can talk about an issue were all that much closer to actually solving problems. If we just unfollow the other side of the political world then we can never hear what might be wrong about our own sides.

So just because someone usually only posts crazy political nonsense isn’t a reason to unfriend them. They might not be informed or maybe they’re just sharing because like you they think the article is totally crazy. But nothing can ever change if people don’t at least take the time to listen to what the other side of the spectrum is saying (even it you might think its crazy). When you surround yourself with only people who think and say the same thoughts and opinions as you then you’re depriving yourself from the other half of the argument. And what’s the point of living in a country where we have the privilege of having and sharing these thoughts and opinions if were only willing to listen to one side of the story.

Even if it’s just for the pure entertainment value of someone posting what you think are silly political posts online don’t be so quick to unfollow your annoying political friends online .