Now I love a good debate on Facebook. I know it's not for everyone but it might surprise you to know that my snarky self has some opinions on things and it can be a good venue to have some interesting dialogue. Plus it's a good place to get it out. If I am just hanging with some friends who I don't see very often, it isn't particularly fun to spend the time discussing something like gun control. Kind of brings the evening down, even if you all agree with each other.
But my oh my, there are certain things that take place in a Facebook debate that are truly annoying and just ruin the fun for the rest of us. Some of these take place in real life, some only in cyberspace - but what they have in common is that they just kill a good conversation on a topic.
-- The "you're missing the point" or "what is it about this that you people are not getting" comments. Seriously? If someone disagrees with you it is solely because they don't understand the issue in the same way that you do? Someone's parents forgot to provide a reality check at some point because unless you are Stephen Hawking, this really has no place in a conversation. The "you people" is just bad manners and poor English.
-- The reference/article poster. I'm not talking about someone who posts a link to start a discussion or in the midst of a conversation, posts a link that clarifies or responds to a question someone has posted. Those are helpful. I'm talking about the people who, rather than use their own words to express their opinion, post link after link to outside articles - or even worse post the entirety of such articles in their posts. Somtimes at the end of several of these they'll write something silly like "nuff said." Nuff said? You didn't say anything. This is equivalent to being at an in-person gathering (say a party or meeting) and interjecting yourself into various conversations by handing out photocopies of articles and walking away. I suspect the host or meeting leader would soon ask you to leave and on Facebook the rest of us having an actual conversation on the issue would like to do the same (but we can’t because then we would be rude and obnoxious). From time to time, there is some humor involved when the article poster completes their cycle of links by writing "don't believe everything you read - learn the truth." Um, by reading?
-- The person who while participating in a debate on issues in one thread starts another lamenting the stupidity of the world today and how uninformed people are and a variety of other derogatory comments on people not issues. Using the real world as a guide again, this would be the equivalent of debating an issue with one group of people and then walking over to another group of people ten feet away and telling them “Betty and John over there are really stupid and are going on and on about shit they don’t understand, unlike me who knows the truth.”
-- The person who comes to the defense of a friend in a completely overblown manner. There you’ll be having an interesting, intelligent conversation in which you and another person are at opposite sides of the issue but everything is completely civil when suddenly something like “hey I don’t know who you think you are snarky self, but Betty is a good person. I’ve known her for two months on facebook! She loves her kids!” Um, okay. She said she hated cilantro in guacamole and I said I loved it. Ok, sometimes the topics are a little more serious but the intervention is just as illogical. Sure, in person or on Facebook it’s nice to throw in a supporting post. Pop in a “I hate cilantro too.” Or if it looks like someone is getting totally bashed maybe you could throw in a little “hey Betty is passionate about hating cilantro but we all have our opinions so let’s live and let live and agree to disagree” or some other platitude. Save the loving her kids and the longevity of the relationship for the abuse trial.
-- The “liker.” This is the person who gives the thumbs up to every single post in a conversation and quite frankly they just annoy me. How can you like *everything*? Even for an innocuous topic like favorite guacamole recipes, it seems a little odd to like every single one (cilantro is an herb that evokes strong opinions) and once you get into something really polarizing like the Oxford comma you need to pick a side. Otherwise my snarky self is going to suspect you aren’t reading anything and just want people to like you. One of these days I’m going to test it by writing something like “I love to kick puppies” in the middle of a raging debate just to see what you do.
By the way, if you do any of the above and are offended by my opinion: LOL, J and you’re too sensitive. Any of those apparently make everything okay.
No comments:
Post a Comment