It creeps up in your Facebook feed. It's splattered all over your friend's page. It's their political beliefs ... on crack. The hurtful memes. The hate campaigns. The altered images of candidates to look like Eddie Munster or some barbaric animal ready to rip your voting head off. Those unflattering photos of President Barack Obama, VP Joe Biden, Mitt Romney, and Paul Ryan with their mouth open, frowning, eyes caught in a strange moment looking like an extra on The Walking Dead. There are the captions, the claims, the uninformed opinions. No matter who you are voting for, everyone is victim.
Some of these postings I see on Facebook are starting to get to me, even if they are mocking or beating down the candidate I am against. It's those over-the-top truly hurtful and outlandish boastings that -- no matter how hard I try -- makes me like some friends slightly less.
The mudslinging. It divides us. As a country. And as friends. I respect who you are voting for even if it doesn't match my choice, and I do like the smart op ed postings calling the candidates out on things, making us think -- question. We should question politicians.
But seeing the hateful posts makes me want to hide those friends' postings until after the election. Or longer if their candidate loses. I'm all for posting whatever the heck you want on your facebook page because ... well ... it's your facebook page. But I'm also all for protecting our friendship. And in these heated times, I don't want to get caught up and judge you.
I'm just not into slamming the President or the man who may become President. Even if I am 100 percent sure I am not going to vote for the man. And even if the man I'm voting against wins, I will respect him. I won't be crude or vulgar. I may not like everything any president does or says, but I do my best to keep it clean -- express my dislike of whatever it may be in an effective way and try not to hit below the belt. Why? Because I am an American. I love this country -- I'm not the kind who threatens to flee to Canada if I don't get my way.
Still, it can be hard during this very impassioned times to not get caught up in everything. It can be difficult not to want to run your car through your neighbor's lawn on a rainy day, spinning your tires and digging up the grass because of their political sign letting you know you aren't voting for the same guy. Do you think they would eat the poison pie I bake for them this Tuesday?
Of course I would never do that.
A couple more days, my friends, and then maybe a few days after the election (so I can avoid the gloating or vitriol ... and the ones I've hidden or avoid on Facebook will return to my feed again.
Do you find that you "hate" some friends because of their political postings on Facebook? Have you been surprised by friends who are voting different than you?
Image via birgerking/Flickr
This Hot Dad Wants to Do Your Ironing
KStew Refuses to Shower
This Hot Dad Wants to Cook You Dinner
This Hot Dad Cooks AND Does the Dishes
Comments 21
Great, great Michele. I can't stand seeing what some of my friends post. Their nastiness and hateful biasness makes me cringe and judge them even when I don't want to drag divisive politics into a friendship.
I don't necessarily hate any of my friends because of their political views, but I definitely get annoyed when that seems to be all they post. It's as if they no longer have a personality or update on anything other than what they've found online to repost about the election. Some of it is funny, I admit, and I will read it, of course, but who they choose to vote for has no meaning to me or our friendship. As a matter of fact, other than one person on my entire list, I can't tell you who's voting for who. I can guess, but may be wrong. And the only reason I am absolutely certain about that one person is because he was the first to post so much, I found myself annoyed. And I refuse to discuss or judge my friends on who they want to see in office for the next 4 years. Afterall, we all have different opinions on what is most important!
I've deleted three friends because of this. FB is supposed to be a fun site and when someone makes it not fun for me, they're gone. Yes, it's their page but it's also mine and like Michelle said, even though I don't like the job Obama's done, I still don't want him to be characterized as a monkey. It's disrespectful.
I agree when politaical junk comes up I delete
Whomever wins the election we need to respect him as the President of the United States. We need to support him.
my opinion it's my page if you don't like what I post tough. you are free to unfriend me. But I don't tell my friends what to post don't tell me what to post. It's called freedom.
end of rant
now my American friends and those of you that hate me please tomorrow voice your opinions at the poll by voting.
i don't "hate" any of my facebook friends because of their political views!! our friendships run deeper than that and besides we are ALL AMERICANS and being able to vote your convictions is our right!!