So, I'm in a nonprofit organization that I really love. It's where I go to play and pretend when life gets stressful. We're a reenactment organization that focuses on the middle ages.
Normally I have a great time with these folks at our events. It's when I read their posts on Facebook that my blood boils, because our world views are so diametrically opposed that I don't see any common ground.
In the last few days, I've seen three Facebook memes pop up on various pages of these friends. The first says something along the lines of, "If you cross the North Korean border, you two years hard labor, and if you cross the Afghanistan border, you get shot, but in America you get a job, benefits, social security, a driver's license, a place to live, and tax free business for seven years? Like and share this if you think this is crazy and that we shouldn't tolerate illegal immigrants!"
A second one says something like "Public employees get 73.5% of every dollar in retirement; private employees get 24.5%. It's time for those greedy union whores to pay their fair share and pay their own way!"
The other was this morning - a picture of a flag, with the caption "It's Annoy a Liberal Day! Happy Flag Day!"
Here's a few questions I'd like to ask these folks. I won't, because I want to keep the peace in my nonprofit activities group. But I wish I could ask these folks these three questions.
First: Why are you chasing the bottom? For the first two memes, the assumption is that we should all sink to the level of North Korea and Afghanistan in our dealings with immigrants, and that we should all be wage slaves with no support system from our employers. And yet the folks who support this crap think they're actually supporting the American values of freedom, equality, and liberty? On what planet does that attitude make sense? Shouldn't we be BETTER than other nations, and treat our immigrants and our employees BETTER than other nations do?
Let me ask these questions as a counter to those: Why do you want us to be like third-world, backwards, crazy countries that treat their citizens and non citizens like shit? Why aren't you asking "how come private sector employees no longer have the protections that public sector employees have?" (Because your groups keep killing unions, stupid.) Why aren't you asking those questions instead? Why don't you want us to race to the top?
Second: Why do you think that an image of an American flag would annoy me? I'm an American, same as you. Did you forget that? It's my flag, too. Why would that annoy me? Is it because you've decided that the flag doesn't belong to liberals? That decision annoys me; the flag does not.
Finally: What the hell is wrong with you that you think any of this crap is okay? Sure, free speech, say what you like, think what you like - but when you say things like this, it makes me less likely to want to interact with you, even in the pretend world we create in our reenactment group. It makes me less likely to trust you. Is that the effect you were hoping to have? Because you've had it. When I smile from a distance but don't talk to you beyond a greeting, you can look to your Facebook page for the reason why.
Oh, and if you want to increase membership? This is the wrong way to go about it.