Yes, this man's FB friends all also chimed in to agree. Once he posted about DeSantis 'banning books' in Florida, and I corrected him with a link to a neutral site listing which books had been assessed by school boards and which retained or tossed. He thanked me, but it appears not to have made a dent in his willingness to do the same thing, over and over, for jollies, it appears.
Yes, this man's FB friends all also chimed in to agree. Once he posted about DeSantis 'banning books' in Florida, and I corrected him with a link to a neutral site listing which books had been assessed by school boards and which retained or tossed. He thanked me, but it appears not to have made a dent in his willingness to do the same thing, over and over, for jollies, it appears.
I had to unfollow my friends on FB who would make lists like this. It really upset me that people I genuinely liked would be this nasty and disrespectful towards people they disagreed with. And also so gullible to repeat the lies of the media taking heads and politicians.
It helps that I don't know this man well, and in fact we've never met in person. We have a mutual interest in the history of a particular place and time. I don't unfollow anyone who expresses those opinions, I find it a fascinating window into people I'm (thankfully) never around in real life.
I think it’s different when it’s someone you don’t have an actual friendship with. All of the people who are my Facebook friends are real friends I know quite well from real life for the most part, with a few “good” acquaintances sprinkled in but I really dislike having random people I’ve barely met in my Facebook friend group, personally. That is just the way I use Facebook. I participate in certain groups but no one is really political at all there. I just found it hurtful on the part of my friends to make statements like that, especially since most knew my opinions and leanings somewhat. Clearly I don’t have your ability to take a step back and look at it dispassionately.
I've been unfriended by a person or two, I think, and perhaps their reason is your reason. One former colleague actually made a post to say that he didn't appreciate politics showing up in his feed because he uses FB as you do. I felt a little badly, as I thought I was one of the people, if not the person, he was talking about, but of late I've noticed him liking some of my posts (which are probably 90% political, the remainder being nature and farm life, with non-political humor bringing up the rear; I too am in nonpolitical interest-based groups, though) and even commenting on some. I use my feed as my little C&C-like warning to others who may not read and hear the sources I do, or have the same fund of knowledge for analysis or comparison. I've had people I know in real life tell me in person how much they appreciate my feed, which they use as a sort of news source, but the vast majority, including those who tell me that, neither like nor comment. I'm an introvert with no desire to share details of my life online with anyone, but the conclusion I finally came to, when I started maing political posts, was, "if not now, when; if not me, who?"
I don’t generally unfriend people, just unfollow them. So their posts don’t automatically appear in my feed, I have to specifically go to their page to look at them. While I get your reasoning and love that you’ve been sharing political messages with people and gotten some to listen, I honestly didn’t join Facebook to do that. My purpose was to keep in touch with people I already knew and was friends with, especially those I didn’t see very often because they live far away or their schedules don’t allow us to see each other in person often. I wanted to know what they were doing and stay connected. People use FB in different ways and for different purposes. Reading very politicized posts (most of which at least in the case of my contacts had inflammatory headlines and were extremely slanted) just didn’t fit my purposes and I think FB is a terrible platform to have a decent debate with people. If I’d have seen more thoughtful posts and comments instead of the same old screeds, I’d maybe have been more interested in reading and engaging. But it just looked like an exercise in virtue signaling and self congratulatory preening to be part of a special club. Not insightful and thought provoking at all. I’d rather get my stimulation elsewhere.
Mine are, I hope, calm, rational, and informative . . . okay, occasionally, such as when criticizing my own former professions of medicine and public health, not entirely calm, but still fact-based, with references and links. I think it's fine for people to use it in different ways.
Based on your posts here, I’m very confident that they are! I’m sure I’d enjoy reading them as well 🙂 Unfortunately, I’ve not found it to be the case for the vast majority of political posts I’ve seen from most people on FB 😕
Yes, this man's FB friends all also chimed in to agree. Once he posted about DeSantis 'banning books' in Florida, and I corrected him with a link to a neutral site listing which books had been assessed by school boards and which retained or tossed. He thanked me, but it appears not to have made a dent in his willingness to do the same thing, over and over, for jollies, it appears.
I had to unfollow my friends on FB who would make lists like this. It really upset me that people I genuinely liked would be this nasty and disrespectful towards people they disagreed with. And also so gullible to repeat the lies of the media taking heads and politicians.
It helps that I don't know this man well, and in fact we've never met in person. We have a mutual interest in the history of a particular place and time. I don't unfollow anyone who expresses those opinions, I find it a fascinating window into people I'm (thankfully) never around in real life.
I think it’s different when it’s someone you don’t have an actual friendship with. All of the people who are my Facebook friends are real friends I know quite well from real life for the most part, with a few “good” acquaintances sprinkled in but I really dislike having random people I’ve barely met in my Facebook friend group, personally. That is just the way I use Facebook. I participate in certain groups but no one is really political at all there. I just found it hurtful on the part of my friends to make statements like that, especially since most knew my opinions and leanings somewhat. Clearly I don’t have your ability to take a step back and look at it dispassionately.
I've been unfriended by a person or two, I think, and perhaps their reason is your reason. One former colleague actually made a post to say that he didn't appreciate politics showing up in his feed because he uses FB as you do. I felt a little badly, as I thought I was one of the people, if not the person, he was talking about, but of late I've noticed him liking some of my posts (which are probably 90% political, the remainder being nature and farm life, with non-political humor bringing up the rear; I too am in nonpolitical interest-based groups, though) and even commenting on some. I use my feed as my little C&C-like warning to others who may not read and hear the sources I do, or have the same fund of knowledge for analysis or comparison. I've had people I know in real life tell me in person how much they appreciate my feed, which they use as a sort of news source, but the vast majority, including those who tell me that, neither like nor comment. I'm an introvert with no desire to share details of my life online with anyone, but the conclusion I finally came to, when I started maing political posts, was, "if not now, when; if not me, who?"
I don’t generally unfriend people, just unfollow them. So their posts don’t automatically appear in my feed, I have to specifically go to their page to look at them. While I get your reasoning and love that you’ve been sharing political messages with people and gotten some to listen, I honestly didn’t join Facebook to do that. My purpose was to keep in touch with people I already knew and was friends with, especially those I didn’t see very often because they live far away or their schedules don’t allow us to see each other in person often. I wanted to know what they were doing and stay connected. People use FB in different ways and for different purposes. Reading very politicized posts (most of which at least in the case of my contacts had inflammatory headlines and were extremely slanted) just didn’t fit my purposes and I think FB is a terrible platform to have a decent debate with people. If I’d have seen more thoughtful posts and comments instead of the same old screeds, I’d maybe have been more interested in reading and engaging. But it just looked like an exercise in virtue signaling and self congratulatory preening to be part of a special club. Not insightful and thought provoking at all. I’d rather get my stimulation elsewhere.
Mine are, I hope, calm, rational, and informative . . . okay, occasionally, such as when criticizing my own former professions of medicine and public health, not entirely calm, but still fact-based, with references and links. I think it's fine for people to use it in different ways.
Based on your posts here, I’m very confident that they are! I’m sure I’d enjoy reading them as well 🙂 Unfortunately, I’ve not found it to be the case for the vast majority of political posts I’ve seen from most people on FB 😕