The View From Here: Politics and Social Media

This week's View comes from Greta of g*funk*ified!

Greta is one of my best bloggy friends. She is a running, photographing mom of 4 living in Kansas. She is authentic and kind.

However, she does have one View on a matter she'd like to get off her chest.

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Politics and Social Media

I don’t like talking politics. The only family members that I think I’ve ever talked politics with are my mom and (briefly) my dad. In fact, I only recently found out that my older brother and his wife are members of a different political party.

That’s not to say that I don’t have strong political beliefs. I’m a liberal. I believe that every woman has the right to choose what she does with her body (and by the way, pro-choice is VERY different than pro-abortion). I believe that we should help those in need if we can. I believe education should be a top priority in our society, and I believe that anyone should be free to love whom they choose and receive the same benefits that a married man and woman are allowed. I believe that gun laws should be strict and that not everyone should be carrying one everywhere. I could go on and on and on.

I’m not at all ashamed of my beliefs and will respectfully discuss them if asked. But something that I don’t believe is that politics and social media play well together. I have a hard time keeping my feelings to myself when I see something on Facebook that goes against a strong personal belief, and I’ve been sick to my stomach in almost every instance at the conversation that follows. I often take things personally (unfortunately) and it’s hard to know why someone sees the world the way he or she does, even in a calm, rational discussion. The biggest problem, though, comes from other people who have no qualms about jumping in and putting their two (or two hundred) cents in. People can be brutal, and disrespectful.

I hate election time on Facebook, because ignorant and completely biased views come at me from every direction, and I learn things about people that I didn’t know and frankly, shock me (and would’ve been happy to have never found out). And don’t even get me started on Twitter….140 characters is NOT enough.

I won’t change your mind and you won’t change mine. So, let’s just stay away from the hot button issues online, okay?

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I try so hard to stay away from the touchy subjects, but gosh darnit, I have my feelings, ya know? And I'm never disrespectful to someone else, although others sometimes think they're allowed to be so to me.

I shared my political views here during the last major election cycle. Like Greta, I'm a "bleeding heart" liberal. Also like her, I completely get the frustration of trying to express any sort of actual opinion on social media, especially Facebook. It seems things posted there are subject to the most scrutiny. Why do people think they should be allowed to say whatever the hell they want on something YOU posted? I think we should all be able to say the shit we want to say on our own pages, but should be respectful on others' pages. There is one person I am thisclose to blocking because they seem to think Facebook is a debate forum.

OK, so! Greta usually blogs about other things like running and gluten-free recipes and sharing photos, In fact, she hosts a weekly link-up of photos taken specifically with your phone. Please check the rest of her out at her:

Blog - Twitter - Facebook - Google+

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