I have a friend who works for a Texas Congressman up on the Hill. She's a very gung-ho Republican, and we had discussions over the years, but we got along because she thought I was kind of funny, I guess, and we had football in common. She ran with some friends of mine, and we'd see each other at Redskins games.
We happen to also be friends on Facebook. On Facebook, everytime she posted a status update, I would see it. Because she is a staffer on the Hill, you can probably guess that about half or a third of her posts are about politics. How the Democrats are doing this wrong, or messing up that, etc. And usually I didn't much care, or respond. I had other things to do, and other fish to fry.
But yesterday, and in the days leading up to yesterday, there was a real sense of craziness to her posts. Postings about how this was the beginning of the destruction of democracy because Democrats rammed through a massive bill without any real debate. How this was totally undermining the Constitution. First steps toward communism. You know the drill.
The post that drew me in was when she posted some sarcastic comment on her page that we got $.01 worth of democracy because the bill cost a trillion dollars and there was only three hours of debate on Health Care Reform. And that, accordingly, we had been deprived of representational democracy.
So I casually commented that we seemed to still have representational democracy after the Republicans passed the Medicare prescription drug benefit, which cost $1.2 trillion and, according to THOMAS, was on the floor for a three hour debate. I asked one could destroy representational democracy, but not the other.
The e-mail I got was astounding. Telling me to go f*ck myself a couple of times, telling me Democrats were destroying our constitutional system, and anyway, it was her comment section and she could say whatever opinion she liked, and that I can't really hold her accountable for something that happened when she didn't work on the Hill.
When I responded that that made no sense, and that she was overreacting and that it was silly to let this devolve into a fight like this, she responded with an introductory f*ck you, accused me of personally attacking her, telling me never to e-mail her again, and finshing with -- say it with me, and this time with feeling -- another f*ck you for the road.
And then she "defriended" me, which I guess is some kind of harsh sanction on Facebook.
So there you have it. One pushback on a dumb post, and someone I've had drinks with and had a few laughs determines I am dead to her. At least, you know, electronically.
When I turned off my laptop, I kind of shook my head in disappointment, but I slept fine. The football tailgates will be a little awkward in the future if she shows up to any, but I think I'm done with the nonsense spouted by the other side, and if a friend thinks this is enough to break the relationship over, pity's the more for her, I guess.
If a staffer on a committee -- if someone who should have thicker skin -- can have an enormous meltdown like this, heads must be exploding all over this country today.
I am curious what kinds of responses from friends or family (the ones who forward those stupid e-mails, you know the ones I mean) you are seeing.