Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Social Media Friendships Before the 2016 Election, When We Thought Clinton Would Win



This took me aback, and some of you will find it ridiculous: one of my Bernie Sanders-loving Facebook friends posted that any of his friends who support Clinton should unfriend him. I have Clinton-supporting friends who've told their friends to unfriend them if they're voting for Trump. I get it. I haven't heard of any Trump supporters demanding the same from Clinton supporters, although I don’t have a lot of Trump-supporting friends, and for whatever reason, most are quiet on the topic.

Thing is, all I ever saw from this guy were angry political rants. Even though I agreed with a lot when Bernie was running, his posts grew increasingly derisive and tiresome, and I won't miss them. I noticed he blocked me right after I commented that I was unfriending him per his request. Such anger.

I think it's ideal to have a balance on social media. I’ll admit my posts sway a lot toward animals and living in the mountains, but I do branch out. Lots of people say they hate constant political or animal rights posts and shares—even when they agree with them—and tune out, unfollow or unfriend. So if the intention is to reach people and influence them, maybe barraging them isn’t the best idea.

I despise animal abuse, e.g., meat eating, more than just about anything, but I haven't unfriended every meat eater I know and retreated into an isolated, lonely bubble of righteous vegans. That would be miserable. Instead, on occasion I influence others to try something different. Moreover, I have a diverse community I love. Likewise, I don't think it's wise to just cut people off willy-nilly over politics—not because they're being obnoxious but simply because you hate their candidate. We’re all sharing this spinning sphere hurtling through space, and in times of natural disasters, it’s all moot. So while I empathize, seeing it from this new perspective makes it easy to recognize it for what it is: intolerance … ironically, one of the biggest flaws most of us see in Trump. 

So, thank you, raging Bernie guy. For my part, I’ll still engage in political discussions but aim to accept people despite their opinions that differ so vastly from my own, and above all not to be hateful or derisive. Easier said when your candidate is winning, I suppose.

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