Cleaning out my Social Network Life
I had pretty much stopped using Facebook because it stressed me out too much. The bitter, the hate-filled, the compassion-less, the under-educated and the socially blind, and the Trumpers, these people filled my FB with so much hate that I simply could not stomach reading my Timeline any more.
What surprised me the most was that these people were friends and family, people who I thought were nice, friendly, kind folks, but it turns out they are not. Not really. Not when it comes to what matters. These people are locked into a 1950's and before mentality and belief system that was not even the truth back then, much less now. Donald Trump is stuck in that mindset too - That, above and beyond his clinical narcissism.
I could write and write and write on this topic forever, but I am not going to. It would stress me out too much. What I will tell you is that I have begun the process of cleaning out my social network life. I have un-friended family and friends, those of that mindset, those who've been posting and sharing fake news, lies, and hate-filled attacks. Anyone who knows me (other than those people) will tell you that I am open-minded, try to see the best in people, and overlook character flaws, and I've always kept people on my friends lists who believe other things than I do. I can no longer do that in regards to these kinds of people. I had to begin making a clean break for my own health, my own sanity, and for my social-ness. When you stop using a social network because of the people you've friended or added to that social circle, that's a problem that only you can fix. So, I fixed it.
I read my Facebook timeline in full for the first time in months a couple of days ago and was appalled at what people on my f-list were posting. I began un-friending family and friends, those who've been most active in the before-mentioned hateful and ignorant ways, and then I took a break. After a day I began reading my Facebook timeline again and the difference is almost not to be believed. I could read the timeline again without my blood pressure going through the roof. I could read and not see fake news and complete lies shared over and again, or posts attacking anyone and everything that was different or socially important, or complaining about liberals and their agenda.
Liberals are the only reason you can post on the Internet so freely. If you don't understand that, you are seriously under-educated or just a moron.
I am not a socialist. I am not a communist. I am a rational realist. I admit that I swing more liberal than I swing towards conservatism, but I do not believe in communism or full blown socialism. Those have been proven to be not workable social solutions, but so is full-on unregulated capitalism. The United States of America, the USA, is not a capitalist democracy, it is a social democracy.
Any service or system where you pay in a little and receive a lot at the end, or during, like Insurance or Social Security, where it is guaranteed and not a risk, is socialism. Social Security is socialism. Insurance is socialism. Disability, workman's comp, life insurance, health insurance, are all a form of socialism. The tax system is socialism or communism of a type. You didn't think that the road leading up to your house or community was paid for just by the people who lived in that area, did you? ;)
One of the people I un-friended from Facebook is a relative who is a police officer. He posted pro-Trump this and that, hate liberals this and that, and people on welfare and food stamps should... this and that. He is a near-perfect example of what I am talking about. He is a cop. He works. He pays into a Union. He pays into a system of benefits. His back/spine is messed up so he's been on limited disability for 2 years. He just had surgery and it will be a long while before he can go back to work in any kind of capacity. He believes that since he paid into his health care system for years that he deserves everything he now gets and will receive. He paid in, so he doesn't think that it is socialism.
"It's not welfare! It's not in any way, shape, or form, social aid!"
It is. He just doesn't understand that it is. People who pay into such systems don't understand, don't realize, that if they took every penny back that they paid into the system, put it in a bank, added up and applied the interest to the balance, it would probably not pay even for one or two hospital bills. The rest of it gets paid out from a communal pool of money that comes from other people. Even if you paid into it, it's still communal, social, and socialism.
My sister, same thing. She paid into social security all of her working life, and now she is on SSD and SSI and has had surgeries and recoveries and more, all paid from Medicare. She says she paid into the system and deserves what she's getting now, but again, if you took all of what she's paid into the system it isn't even a drop in the bucket of all she's received from the social security system. Not even close. Her back surgery alone probably exceeds what she paid in.
There is only a certain level of hypocrisy I can stomach.
In a world where we have an Internet with everything available to read, research, and consider, there is NO excuse to be under-educated anymore. This is not the 1950's or 60's or 70's or 80's. There is no excuse to not be able to find out all the truths and facts and fictions. There is not. If your life is too busy to do what you need to do to educate and update yourself, you are probably binge-watching too much Netflix or going out to bars every day or helicoptering your spoiled rotten children. Too much entertainment, too many distractions, and too few truly informed opinions out there these days. That makes for a world full of sheep and lemmings and idiots. That's why we now have Donald Trump as our President. That's why in 2017 we are still arguing over issues we were dealing with in the 1970's, like abortion, planned parenthood, and the RIGHT of women to earn the same salary as male counterparts for the same work, and men are still deciding what women can and can't do with their own bodies and their own health. *rolls eyes*
2017 people. Not 1950. Not 1980. Two Thousand and Seventeen! My mother who died in 1999 would be appalled at how far the world has not come and how far it is sliding back to darker ages. 1950-70 were great times? Not for most women of any color. It's too bad that we've forgotten that past, and it is shameful that any woman has, or any who have not took the time to learn how far and hard others fought for them to... be able to post their uneducated bullshit on Facebook. :/
What I was starting to say, before I got distracted by myself, was that I have cleaned out my Facebook and am working on other Social Media accounts, and it is much better. MUCH better, saner, and less stressful. Sure, unfriending family can cause friction, but let me tell you, it's less friction than leaving them on your friends list to haunt your timeline, your comment threads, and even your groups. If you've ever seen any of the Paranormal Activity movies, that might well be your family and past friends on social media.
You can choose your friends but not your family
That's an old saying which is NOT true. You CAN choose your own family, at least those who you recognize as your family. And you can choose your friends, and even choose those members of your family who are your friends. It is not elusive or mutually-elusive. You can choose. What will you lose? A Christmas Card that they probably don't send anyway?
Blood relation doesn't mean family anymore. Family are people who support and love you and don't aggravate and take advantage of you every second of your life. That's the difference between a chosen family and family pedigree. At least one of them, well, it's for the dogs. ;)
What surprised me the most was that these people were friends and family, people who I thought were nice, friendly, kind folks, but it turns out they are not. Not really. Not when it comes to what matters. These people are locked into a 1950's and before mentality and belief system that was not even the truth back then, much less now. Donald Trump is stuck in that mindset too - That, above and beyond his clinical narcissism.
I could write and write and write on this topic forever, but I am not going to. It would stress me out too much. What I will tell you is that I have begun the process of cleaning out my social network life. I have un-friended family and friends, those of that mindset, those who've been posting and sharing fake news, lies, and hate-filled attacks. Anyone who knows me (other than those people) will tell you that I am open-minded, try to see the best in people, and overlook character flaws, and I've always kept people on my friends lists who believe other things than I do. I can no longer do that in regards to these kinds of people. I had to begin making a clean break for my own health, my own sanity, and for my social-ness. When you stop using a social network because of the people you've friended or added to that social circle, that's a problem that only you can fix. So, I fixed it.
I read my Facebook timeline in full for the first time in months a couple of days ago and was appalled at what people on my f-list were posting. I began un-friending family and friends, those who've been most active in the before-mentioned hateful and ignorant ways, and then I took a break. After a day I began reading my Facebook timeline again and the difference is almost not to be believed. I could read the timeline again without my blood pressure going through the roof. I could read and not see fake news and complete lies shared over and again, or posts attacking anyone and everything that was different or socially important, or complaining about liberals and their agenda.
Liberals are the only reason you can post on the Internet so freely. If you don't understand that, you are seriously under-educated or just a moron.
I am not a socialist. I am not a communist. I am a rational realist. I admit that I swing more liberal than I swing towards conservatism, but I do not believe in communism or full blown socialism. Those have been proven to be not workable social solutions, but so is full-on unregulated capitalism. The United States of America, the USA, is not a capitalist democracy, it is a social democracy.
Any service or system where you pay in a little and receive a lot at the end, or during, like Insurance or Social Security, where it is guaranteed and not a risk, is socialism. Social Security is socialism. Insurance is socialism. Disability, workman's comp, life insurance, health insurance, are all a form of socialism. The tax system is socialism or communism of a type. You didn't think that the road leading up to your house or community was paid for just by the people who lived in that area, did you? ;)
One of the people I un-friended from Facebook is a relative who is a police officer. He posted pro-Trump this and that, hate liberals this and that, and people on welfare and food stamps should... this and that. He is a near-perfect example of what I am talking about. He is a cop. He works. He pays into a Union. He pays into a system of benefits. His back/spine is messed up so he's been on limited disability for 2 years. He just had surgery and it will be a long while before he can go back to work in any kind of capacity. He believes that since he paid into his health care system for years that he deserves everything he now gets and will receive. He paid in, so he doesn't think that it is socialism.
"It's not welfare! It's not in any way, shape, or form, social aid!"
It is. He just doesn't understand that it is. People who pay into such systems don't understand, don't realize, that if they took every penny back that they paid into the system, put it in a bank, added up and applied the interest to the balance, it would probably not pay even for one or two hospital bills. The rest of it gets paid out from a communal pool of money that comes from other people. Even if you paid into it, it's still communal, social, and socialism.
My sister, same thing. She paid into social security all of her working life, and now she is on SSD and SSI and has had surgeries and recoveries and more, all paid from Medicare. She says she paid into the system and deserves what she's getting now, but again, if you took all of what she's paid into the system it isn't even a drop in the bucket of all she's received from the social security system. Not even close. Her back surgery alone probably exceeds what she paid in.
There is only a certain level of hypocrisy I can stomach.
In a world where we have an Internet with everything available to read, research, and consider, there is NO excuse to be under-educated anymore. This is not the 1950's or 60's or 70's or 80's. There is no excuse to not be able to find out all the truths and facts and fictions. There is not. If your life is too busy to do what you need to do to educate and update yourself, you are probably binge-watching too much Netflix or going out to bars every day or helicoptering your spoiled rotten children. Too much entertainment, too many distractions, and too few truly informed opinions out there these days. That makes for a world full of sheep and lemmings and idiots. That's why we now have Donald Trump as our President. That's why in 2017 we are still arguing over issues we were dealing with in the 1970's, like abortion, planned parenthood, and the RIGHT of women to earn the same salary as male counterparts for the same work, and men are still deciding what women can and can't do with their own bodies and their own health. *rolls eyes*
2017 people. Not 1950. Not 1980. Two Thousand and Seventeen! My mother who died in 1999 would be appalled at how far the world has not come and how far it is sliding back to darker ages. 1950-70 were great times? Not for most women of any color. It's too bad that we've forgotten that past, and it is shameful that any woman has, or any who have not took the time to learn how far and hard others fought for them to... be able to post their uneducated bullshit on Facebook. :/
What I was starting to say, before I got distracted by myself, was that I have cleaned out my Facebook and am working on other Social Media accounts, and it is much better. MUCH better, saner, and less stressful. Sure, unfriending family can cause friction, but let me tell you, it's less friction than leaving them on your friends list to haunt your timeline, your comment threads, and even your groups. If you've ever seen any of the Paranormal Activity movies, that might well be your family and past friends on social media.
You can choose your friends but not your family
That's an old saying which is NOT true. You CAN choose your own family, at least those who you recognize as your family. And you can choose your friends, and even choose those members of your family who are your friends. It is not elusive or mutually-elusive. You can choose. What will you lose? A Christmas Card that they probably don't send anyway?
Blood relation doesn't mean family anymore. Family are people who support and love you and don't aggravate and take advantage of you every second of your life. That's the difference between a chosen family and family pedigree. At least one of them, well, it's for the dogs. ;)