Losing Friends While Influencing No One

So the field is set for the 2016 presidential election. The choirs and true believers in the full pews have all been preached to. The major parties have their candidates, the Libertarians threaten to become relevant, and even the Green Party may have the most influence since Ralph Nader cost Al Gore the presidency in 2000.

I do not care for whom you vote in November. That, of course, is not exactly true. I would obviously prefer that you vote for the same people as me, but I don’t expect that. Some of you will vote for Mr. Trump. The fact that I think he is dangerous and would put our country and economy at risk does NOT mean that I am right and you are stupid. People have their reasons for their candidate choices. I respect that their point of view is different from mine, that their situation is different from mine, that their history is different than mine. In short, I respect them as people.

I also respect everyone’s right to advocate for (or against) any candidate. I think that trying to influence the votes of others via Facebook memes, shares, reposts, retweets, etc. is fruitless, but hey, it’s your time and your life.

However, while I am not trying to accumulate or even maintain a particular number of Facebook friends, I am going to do my bit for civility. If the strategy I describe below culls the herd, so be it. There are even some I will be sad to lose, because I have warm feelings for them.

Nevertheless, if you post something that says, or even implies, that I am stupid or immoral or whatever, simply because I think differently than you, I am going to call you out. I will neither tolerate nor ignore that kind of disrespect and don’t need to have any connection with you. I will give you a (one) chance to retract or rethink, not your beliefs, but your approach. Because, again, I don’t care about your politics, but I do care about how you treat me (and others). 

I am not going to stalk those woodpecker strategy posters, who seem to believe that somehow their 45^th post of the day (hour?) will be the one that changes a mind. Nor am I looking for things that offend; quite frankly, that’s too easy a task, even for me at this stage of life. If a person wants to be offended, there’s plenty of, uh, stuff out there to accomplish that task. But if I see your post and it IS offensive, using the aforementioned criteria, I will no longer disregard it and hum the Frozen theme song, because then, in my mind, I am part of the problem of the growing incivility in politics and public discourse.

So, fair warning. If you get from me some variation of the following message: “Did you really intend to call me _____________ (stupid, immoral, evil, a libtard, unpatriotic, un-American, some other insult to be named later)? Because if you did, I don’t see how we can even be Facebook friends, and believe me, that’s a pretty low bar. I will take no response from you as an affirmative, that, ‘Yes, I really do think you are ________________,’ and act accordingly. I will also make my last post on your wall a notification of my action.” If you choose a proactive approach, that is up to you, but I would appreciate you telling me that you are choosing to “unfriend” me, so that I know why.