Tonight's post will be the top ten posts about the election from my Facebook news feed. I will insert commentary as needed. You don't want to miss these:
(Caveat: The people who posted these statuses are Facebook friends, which means that for some reason, I have maintained a connection with them, some for many years and multiple friends' list purges. There's a reason for that. I love and respect these people, but that doesn't mean we need to agree; neither does it mean that I cannot call them out on some of their comments, especially those that are not founded in fact.)
(Caveat: The people who posted these statuses are Facebook friends, which means that for some reason, I have maintained a connection with them, some for many years and multiple friends' list purges. There's a reason for that. I love and respect these people, but that doesn't mean we need to agree; neither does it mean that I cannot call them out on some of their comments, especially those that are not founded in fact.)
10) "I really am nervous right now. I have lots of anxiety. I don't know how to take it all...I feel that we need to be respectful to each other though. If someone says something that offends you ignore it, and respect their opinion. WE NEED TO BE UNITED!!!!! If we are united, we will not fall!!!"
First, overly dramatic is the least of the problems with this post. The biggest issue is advice to ignore something offensive because wee should respect someones opinion. I am all for respecting opinions, but there is a difference between respectful opinions and hateful speech.
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9) "Well my candidate didn't win but at least I am still an American. I love this country we are so blessed."
Probably the most sensible post I saw from either side. Although I rarely communicate with this guy, I am proud to say he's a Facebook friend with that kind of civility.
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8) "Not sure I'm ready for the OBAcalypse. Ok...I'll try to stop talking about politics now! All we can do now is pray that things do improve, and get ourselves prepared for whatever happens!"
Has anyone noticed the theme so far? That's right, overuse of the exclamation point. Don't worry, it will continue. As for this post, how have things not been improving? How many months of continuous job growth have we had? Go ahead, I'll wait for you to look it up.
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7) "I'm sorry about posting anything political, but how can people say that everybody's vote counts, if they name the new president when some states are only 10% in."
This is a perplexing question, no doubt. Well, it has to do with trends but also exit polls. As long as those polls have margins of error small enough, they can make an accurate call. Don't worry, every vote will be counted. The real problem is the obsolete electoral college.
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6) "Does the popular vote count for anything?"
Not really. See previous comment.
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5) "One last thought, and trolls say what you want. 49% of Americans are not happy with the current administration, I wouldn't call that a very great victory."
Trolls? What are you talking about? I am an Ogre. Seriously, though, If I were Barack Obama, my response to that would be, "I am still the president." This illogical argument would be like someone saying that the Steelers' four-point win over the Cardinals in Super Bowl 43 wasn't a very great victory." Hello, they are still Super Bowl Champions.
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4) "In 1887 Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior:
'A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the
public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship.
'A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the
public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship.
'The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage.'"
From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage.'"
Commence puking. I did. There is too much to get into here, but if you need help, let me know.
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3) "'For
as their laws and their governments were established by the voice of the
people, and they who chose evil were more numerous than they who chose good,
therefore they were ripening for destruction' (Helaman 5:2). That's about
how I feel right now. I can hardly believe that so many people voted for Obama
given his dismal record these last four years, his constant lies, and his
divisiveness. So either people were fooled by him or they have bought into the
ideology that we can all get free stuff by taking from somebody else. Neither
scenario is good."
At least two people posted this scripture on my news feed. Seriously? Now we're all evil and President Obama is a constant liar. And where is all this free stuff? Oh, and, yes, you can puke again.
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No commentary necessary.
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1) This one needs an introduction. Early in the evening, when 16 electoral votes had been awarded, giving Mittens a 13 - 3 lead, the following appeared in my news feed: "It's happening people!!! Keep holding your breath... holy
cow."
Sadly, he has since deleted this status, so I was unable to copy one of the comments that said something about "tingling."
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And now for the honorable mentions, any one of which I could have placed anywhere in the top ten:
"Obama= the first president to be re-elected that actually
did not keep any of his promises that he promised 4 years ago. Its
unbelievable. Just shows how smart some Americans are. It will take 30 years to
recover from these 8! Or we may never recover. We are going to be owned by
China before then."
Do I really need to list off all the promises he did keep as well as the ones he did not keep only because of the way Republicans blocked him?
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"I can't believe he got elected once as President, but
twice? Seriously unbelievable. Americans have hit a new low as to what is
expected to be the President of the United States."
One person
responded to this status with the following: “It’s the beginning of the end!” So what does that say about his first being elected?
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"Just trying to decide if Justin and I should both quit our
jobs and hop on the Obama 'gravy train' to start getting our free
hand outs now, or wait until another 4 years until he's spent another couple of
trillion dollars that he doesn't have to break this (used to be great)
country..."
Go for it. Quit those jobs and see how hard it is to get assistance let alone live off of it.
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"To all the people saying that they're moving to Canada....
enjoy their universal healthcare."
True dat!
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Dear William, Before you decide to repost "friends" Facebook posts on your blog only to mock and disregard their raw feelings maybe you should heed some of your own advice..."I would love everyone. There is too much hate in this world too much intolerance too much "I know better than you" attitude.
ReplyDeleteNicky,
DeleteI think it is interesting that you would try to use my own words to make me feel guilty. I wrote nothing in this blog post that is in any way contrary the quote you lifted from a previous post. First, the ability to use facts to support a position is how I counter the "I know better than you attitude." I don't make things up based upon what some pundits or talk show hosts claim. I research issues and invite others to do the same, as I clearly state in this blog post. Whether my tone is mocking is debatable. You think you do, but you don't really know me. I do not disregard anyone's feelings. I clearly take the time to address them in an argumentative fashion; in other words, I am inviting rebuttals, debate style. No one else can see my news feed, and I don't name anyone. Mostly, I am interested in why people are so concerned with another four years of going in the right direction. However, in my experience, most people who feel the way that these people feel are not interested in engaging with me one on one. This is one of the reasons I have a blog, so I can vent my raw feelings without subjecting Facebook friends to it. Now, that said, I am not heartless. If I hurt your feelings, know that it was not my intent. Hopefully, I have explained that well enough already. So I apologize if my reproducing your status offended you. The offense was not intended.