My FB sabbatical
I announced yesterday that I was taking a sabbatical from FB for a while, that I had discovered lately that I was much happier before I got on Facebook. I think my FB experience would have been FINE if I had not accepted the friend requests of all of the f-ing idiots who formed the group of people who collectively made my childhood miserable. They're just as backward, redneck, and small minded now as they were then. The anti-Muslim, anti-Obama hate escalated following bin Laden's execution to a point that I couldn't stand it. I found myself angry, frazzled, and unhappy with just about everything yesterday afternoon and traced that back to Facebook. So out it goes for a while.
I never would have thought that my saying adios to FB would have had the reaction that it did. I've had people emailing and IMing me asking me not to, saying that they'll miss my posts, and others telling me that it's just stupid to walk away from FB. In retrospect, I wish I had done it quietly and without announcement, but I like that it's making people think about WHY I'm taking a break from it. I've been clear as to why, so maybe that will make people take a look at their own lives.
I found all of the celebration about bin Laden's death morose and inappropriate. It's not that I think that he shouldn't have been offed; he was a horrible, horrible person. I do think it set a HORRIBLE example for Americans; we have a justice system, and if we're supposed to believe that it works when we're in the hot seat or have been victimized, why didn't we USE it against one of the worst criminals in American history? It likely would have been a kangaroo court, but I would have loved to see him go on trial, be found guilty, and THEN kill him. Our own homegrown Christian extremists will, no doubt, use this as their defense when killing people of color. It's already happening (http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/clearwater-driver-says-he-wanted-to-kill-terrorist/1166760).
And then there's all of the anti-Muslim sentiment that is just inflamed out of control. I KNOW people who are Muslim. They are good people, loving, peaceful, and forgiving, sometimes a lot moreso than most Christians I know because they HAVE to be forgiving people to put up with the bs that the American public is visiting on them right now. Even GW Bush warned the American public that bin Laden is a crazy extremist murderer and that to blame all Muslims for his behavior would be inappropriate. When the CEO of the idiots speak, I thought they listened??
So that's that. No more FB for me for a while. Stina said it best when she said SHE might leave it for a while too: "I'm sick of watching my friends act like jerks." I'm pretty sure that's not a word for word quote, but the sentiment is right. Thanks for putting things in perspective for me, Stina!
I never would have thought that my saying adios to FB would have had the reaction that it did. I've had people emailing and IMing me asking me not to, saying that they'll miss my posts, and others telling me that it's just stupid to walk away from FB. In retrospect, I wish I had done it quietly and without announcement, but I like that it's making people think about WHY I'm taking a break from it. I've been clear as to why, so maybe that will make people take a look at their own lives.
I found all of the celebration about bin Laden's death morose and inappropriate. It's not that I think that he shouldn't have been offed; he was a horrible, horrible person. I do think it set a HORRIBLE example for Americans; we have a justice system, and if we're supposed to believe that it works when we're in the hot seat or have been victimized, why didn't we USE it against one of the worst criminals in American history? It likely would have been a kangaroo court, but I would have loved to see him go on trial, be found guilty, and THEN kill him. Our own homegrown Christian extremists will, no doubt, use this as their defense when killing people of color. It's already happening (http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/clearwater-driver-says-he-wanted-to-kill-terrorist/1166760).
And then there's all of the anti-Muslim sentiment that is just inflamed out of control. I KNOW people who are Muslim. They are good people, loving, peaceful, and forgiving, sometimes a lot moreso than most Christians I know because they HAVE to be forgiving people to put up with the bs that the American public is visiting on them right now. Even GW Bush warned the American public that bin Laden is a crazy extremist murderer and that to blame all Muslims for his behavior would be inappropriate. When the CEO of the idiots speak, I thought they listened??
So that's that. No more FB for me for a while. Stina said it best when she said SHE might leave it for a while too: "I'm sick of watching my friends act like jerks." I'm pretty sure that's not a word for word quote, but the sentiment is right. Thanks for putting things in perspective for me, Stina!