It happened again.
One of my Facebook friends made a snarky comment about a political process, and their friends piled on with even more snarky comments. Aggressive, spiteful words were used, like “hate,” “cruel” and “horrid.” What prompted the ire? A misstatement of what happened in DC today (they took facts and skewed them due to their personal beliefs). They took that misstatement and used it to justify an outpouring of snark.
So, I removed the friend from my Facebook feed. I’m doing my best to be on a snark-free diet.
What caused this tirade? It doesn’t matter. In this bifurcated political system, both sides think they can say ANYTHING about the other side, because the other side is (insert hurtful words here). Many people think that they MUST say hurtful things about the other side, because to do otherwise would be accepting the other position.
They are wrong.
I don’t care what side you’re on; we’re all in this together. Calling the other side (insert hurtful words here) will not help anyone, nor will it help the country find common ground on the very important issues we are confronted with today.
What would you rather do … build bridges, or burn it all down?
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I’ve hidden an awful lot of friends on my feed for just this reason, both those who don’t often see things from my political perspective and those who do. It’s too exhausting to read the hate. My one hope is that from this maybe we are raising a generation that will better understand the power of rhetoric. I just hope they wield it better than we seem to.
Perfectly stated, Sarah.
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