The Purge
I've begun purging my Facebook friends list of people that never really engaged with me or with who I had positive experiences. Sometimes I wish I could unplug from Facebook entirely, but at the same time I wonder how I would be able to keep up with the people that I *actually* care about.
Part of this is me doing some digital housekeeping in anticipation of leaving Baltimore. As much as I enjoy this city, I have come to realize that I never really fit in here. A lot of this has to do with the social circle. I'm not a social person. Which means that as a result most of the friends I end up making are people that are friends with Wilson. As a result, that means a lot of leftist, whiny, liberal elite types who spend their time tripping over each other to make their opinions and politics known. And frankly, although I usually agree with them, I'm sick to death of fucking hearing about it.
I am liberal. I am priviledged. I recognize that and own it. On the other hand, I will not be made to feel bad about it nor will I apologize for it. I have spent the better part of 8 years carrying my own weight, as well as Wilson's. I did so when I was barely making minimum wage as a security guard, I did so in grad school, and I continue to do so now that I have a master's degree and a decent, middle-class job. I am not by any means a bootstraps kind of person. And there are LOTS of people out there who have it a lot worse than me. But I'm really sick of watching people bitch about it online when, quite frankly, they do NOT have it that bad. I say this as someone who used to see naked kids shitting on top of 2-story high piles of trash in Cotonou. Sure, it's comparing apples and oranges, but still. It irks me.
Maybe that's just the nature of the internet? It just invites people to complain? Whereas before you only heard a lot of these things from the people you actually knew and had a decent feel for, now you hear these things from a few hundred of your closest internet friends. As such, everyone is overworked, underpaid, unappreciated, suffering health woes, growing older, sick of politics, poor, doesn't get along with their mother in law, etc. As a result, it really starts to blot out everything else.
Oh well. Onwards and upwards, I guess.