A few weeks ago, I received a friend request on Facebook from a guy I went to high school with. I hadn't seen or spoken to this guy in about 20 years, but I was friendly with him in high school, if not close, so I accepted.
Like I do with most of the people I friend on Facebook whom I haven't seen or spoken to in a long time, I checked out his profile. Under political views, he described himself as "Hardcore conservative." Well, OK. I spent a decade living in Bakersfield, CA, including my high school years, so the political views of many of the people I went to high school with reflect the generally conservative views of the community as a whole.
I don't discuss politics with most of these people. We talk about other things when we reply to each others' status updates or post something to others' walls. But since politics is one of my interests, I often post status updates which touch on political subjects.
A couple of days ago, I posted the following status update:
So if torture is simply "harsh interrogation," does that mean that mugging people at knifepoint is just "harsh panhandling?"
I intended that as a commentary on how part of the defense of torture being mounted by Cheney, et al is to use language to blunt perceptions of just what it is we're talking about. I also intended it to be funny. I wasn't getting in anyone's face.
The thread picked up a couple dozen comments. But the really illustrative ones came from my new Facebook "friend." Here's the meat of the back and forth I had with him. I don't need to mark which ones belong to him and which ones belong to me, because it's pretty obvious.
All you have to do is look at the polls in this country and you will see the majority of those polled are not in favor for these so called truth commissions. Your president isn't even in favor for them.I mean you libs. come on.
Well, there you have it. Our leaders broke the law, violated international treaties, and basically trampled on the Constitution. So obviously, the way to determine how best to handle all that is by looking at some polls. Why didn't I think of that?
By the way, I think I saw some polls the other day that said a vast majority of Americans want free beer and dancing girls at their doorstep. But if we did that, it would obviously be Socialism, and that's bad. But the polls say everyone wants it. So...I'm kinda hazy on this whole poll idea of yours.
Devin , I'm so surprised.Un unreligious,Nancy Pelosi Liberal,Bush hater.Who'd a thought.
And then he unfriended me.
I mean seriously. Over this? Two nights before, he and I had a pleasant exchange about how great Game 7 of the Bruins-Hurricanes series had been. Not to mention, there's another guy I have some vicious exchanges with over politics, but whom I also have cordials discussions with about parenthood, househunting, and other subjects. In short, most of the conservatives I am friends with on Facebook are rational human beings who realize that people are multifaceted.
But I think this guy is representative of a group of people who are so angry about being out of power that it crowds out everything else. Unreligious? WTF? I'm assuming this is from me describing myself as "Agnostic" in my profile. Never mind what isn't in my profile - that my wife is a member of a local Unitarian church and I attend services there with her frequently. Some people just don't want to do anything more than sort you into containers - "Unreligious"; "Nancy Pelosi Liberal"; "Bush Hater" - and once they do that, you're either with them or against them.
As for being unfriended, I don't really consider it much of a loss. But it is illustrative. There are some people out there who are so angry, so petty, and so childish that they don't even want to know you if you disagree with them.