There are friends and then there are Facebook friends. Real friends are people that you owe it to them to even tell them unpleasant but true things. People who aren't real friends but friends of convenience will only listen to what they want to hear. And then there are people who you really don't even know other than in cyberworld and most of them you only a "friends" with them because you are friends with other people.
I need to give a little background to describe what happened. First, it started when someone posted one of those Teahadist mass e-mails of a picture of President Obama side by side a picture of a donkey. Keep in mind this was in a secret group on Facebook for fans of a certain band.
Follow me below the Fleur de Kos for details:
I'm a huge fan of Warren Haynes and the band Gov't Mule. Warren also leads his own band, the Warren Haynes Band, and is a member of the Allman Brothers as well. He appeared at the White House in February for a blues concert that was featured on PBS. He also played with the post-Jerry Garcia "Dead" (confusing as the original band was the Grateful Dead but called the Dead by fans and the new band was called the Dead). Warren and the Dead played a Barack Obama fundraiser at Penn State University in 2008.
Anyway, there is a private Facebook group of hardcore Mule fans like myself. It has a little more than 200 members, including some band members, their wives, and crew. Yada yada yada, this guy posted the picture of Obama next to an ass. The administrator deleted the picture not necessarily because it was offensive, but this was a music page. Not only that, the band is progressive and have numerous songs that express that point of view.
So the administrator writes on the group wall:
I had several requests to delete this. Please let's drop it.
Fair enough. After the admin of the private page deleted it, the same person reposted it in a group called
Mule Army. It's not private as far as I know. I mentioned that I thought it was a jerky move posting this after it had already been deleted elsewhere. I also left that group because IMO the admin there said "All politicians are asses." Some are, some aren't. And sometimes the equivalency fails. That's my decision. I'm not interested in dealing w/ people like that, especially when their political views are so disconnected from the band that they claim they like.
Anyway, I got a PM from that person who started w/ some standard and mistaken tripe about this being a free speech issue (Note I showed blatant misspellings, a SOP of conservative hate mail in parentheses but ignored some common shorthand and text versions of other words):
Hey Dan my post in govt mule yesterday was certainly not meant to offend anyone. It was strictly sattire (sic) n only sattire (sic)FYI i messaged ross n told him basically the same thing im telling you
I do like govt mule(the band) n posted it only because of the pic of the mule I chose to message ross n u in private in order not to piss too many ppl off I enjoy the band n both forums but moreover I enjoy my Constitutional right of freedom of speech I am a Viet Nam war era vet n I served my country so these silly little forums cud (sic)exist Had Ross left the post, im sure there wud b a little controversy but im also sure some ppl wud hv "liked" it as the did in Mule Army N slowly but surely it wud hv purged off
I hv no hard feelings about anything except that my freedom of speech was violated Ross made the wrong decision. Period It was for fun; a joke to make ppl laugh a little to stir the pot
I dont want or need a response so for something like u think i did that wasnt politcally correct, I feel like ur stirring the pot dude for ur post about it If u dont like it, forget about it Leave it alone bcause ur the pot calling the kettle black
Notice some of the same tired old non-apology apology. Notice the mistaken view that posting in a private forum on Facebook, a private company you have to sign up for, entitles you to First Amendment protection. Notice the standard language of victimization. Notice how they are for
their right to express themselves, but speak your own mind and they get wigged out.
Here was my response:
Don't lecture me on the Constitution. I hate to break it to you but the First Amendment has to do w/ Congress making no law which limits your speech. Ross, or whomever else is running the Mule page, has the right to do as they please. You are free to express your opinions, but not free from repercussions from that. Take some personal responsibility for your actions. BTW, this has nothing to do w/ my political views or yours. The Mule page is a MULE page. There are plenty of political pages on FB and each of them is a more appropriate venue for that kind of thing.
Here's a hypothetical, supposing people who supported both parties started plastering their political messages all over the Mule page. Don't you think it would get annoying after a while? There's a reason why I don't mix my politics and music. But in case you were never listening to the lyrics, it might surprise you to know not only is Warren a progressive, but he's actively raised money for Barack Obama, playing in the first "Dead" show in years in 2008 at Penn State. Matt and Danny also are progressives as is Ron. I don't know Jorgen's views, but the fact is that the majority of the band might possibly find your post less than amusing. Did you ever consider that you might be insulting the people you claim you love?
His response, while not classic, was fairly typical of what Markos puts up in the weekly Saturday Hate Mail:
Take ur bleeding heart liberal attitude n cram it up ur ass
Translation: how dare you point out how wrong I am and how what I did was also the wrong place at the wrong time. And how bout a big FU for pointing that out.
My response:
How old are you? I love how you immediately start insulting me and can't talk like an adult.
His response:
Leave me alone dude u starting talking shit on my post
Now bear in mind he PM'd me. Also, he posted the picture on Mule Army which is not administered by him so he has no right to take umbrage w/ how people respond to his post in the first place. The point I want to stress is that the First Amendment and the entire Constitution only seem to apply to their point of view. State otherwise and the first thing they do is tell you to STFU. It's no different than their phony"freedom of religion" scam about birth control. They have the freedom to discriminate against you and you don't have the right to be free of their discrimination either.
I then unfriended this guy. But let's be honest, he was never really a friend of mine. He was a Facebook friend that saw me on a list of people You May Know and sent me a friend request because we have 47 mutual friends. Good riddance to these people. We all know someone or are related to people like this. And so it goes...