Political memes on Facebook

[DontAskJusTckle]

Lately I've been seeing an outpouring of political memes on Facebook. Without going into any details of the nature of the messages, I find myself nonplussed at this current trend. I like that this forum has a section set aside for such discussions and expressions of political opinion. I like it because many (most?) people don't want to involve themselves in the bickering, arguing, etc. And people like me who do enjoy the never ending debate can participate without feeling like we're arguing in front of an unwilling audience.

On Facebook, I don't "share" the political memes and messages that come my way, even those that agree with my particular ideology. I think it's rude to subject my friends and family to political memes because I know most of them are not on Facebook for this kind if thing.

Do you guys experience anything similar on social media, and if so, how do you handle it? And since this is General Discussion, I ask you to please not go into specifics of the political messages. This thread is about whether you find political messages appropriate in FB, and how you generally react to them.

 

[theshire]

I have no problem with people on Facebook sharing anything that they are interested in or that means something to them. I personally tend to mix my own Facebook updates up between personal statuses/pictures, funnies and the odd shared link to a news story (sometimes with a brief commentary). I know full well that not all of my Facebook friends will agree with what I post or be remotely interested in it, so I try to keep it to a minimum. I don't see a problem with that.

 

[Flatfoot]

I simply scroll past them. I get disgusted reading them, because from my experience, if a photo of anything on Facebook has some sort of caption attached, it's probably not true. No matter what political ideology someone follows, they immediately lose credibility with me when they share this nonsense.

 

[C.A.B.]

I don't Facebook.


'nuff said.

 

[Filthyweasel]

About 3 weeks ago I took a break from facebook. This week I've gone back on in a really limited capacity compared to what I used to, and I'm quite happy doing just that, because all I see is a torrent of angry opinion over this, over that. I'm very left-wing, but recently the left on facebook has been hijacked by the more extreme end of the politically correct crowd who post - and also expect their liberal-leaning peers to get equally insanely angry over - the least little thing that challenges political correctness. Problem is, in the internet age everything is filmed, photographed, blogged. If you root through enough of what humanity has to offer, you will always find an asshole dipshit who does something you'll consider offensive. Media sites will dredge these people up and tell us that we must get frothing at the mouth angry over this shit. Sorry...I've got a life to live. This weeks ZOMFG post is the girl posing with her safari sport kills. Yeah I find it appalling, but that's as far as it goes with me. I'm not going to go out of my way to spit and scream bloody murder over it. This is the second decade of the 21st Century. I, as do we all, have *plenty* other personal problems to stress over. I'm not going to add to that by blowing an artery over fluff that doesn't concern or affect me. Ohhhh there's going to be a Satan statue raised in Oklahoma!!!! So. Fucking. What.

What does this have to do with politics? Ever notice how recently, EVERY issue that gets a lot of media attention gets politicized? Everything becomes politics sooner or later.

 

[Sodahead]

I'm not on Facebook but my dad always forwards politically motivated email chains which I promptly delete from my inbox. I don't really have a problem with people sharing their views on various topics, but to DAJT's point, it's nice to have a sub forum here so certain topics can be discussed without disrupting the overall spirit of TMF

 

[venray]

Men.....you don't like something or someone and it is a simple click and it is gone... No biggie at all...

 

[DontAskJusTckle]

Men.....you don't like something or someone and it is a simple click and it is gone... No biggie at all...

Couldn't agree more. And that's been my policy for the last 5 years or so. But lately I've seen a significant ramping up. Two people in particular with whom I went to high school are just cranking out little pieces of propaganda, like about twenty a day. It's gotten to the point where I wonder if they have day jobs.

I'm not in any quandary as to what to do about it. I'm fully aware of my options. I'm just curious to know how many other TMF people are experiencing the same thing.