I don't want to offend anyone, but I do want to say something.

[Bertha Venation]

I don't visit Facebook more than once or twice a week, and then briefly. But everytime I visit, I am reminded that I have five friends who "like" Romney. Among them are my aunt, my neighbor across the street, and my beloved BIL.

I don't want to offend them. I can hear a lot of you protesting. Why don't I want to offend them? Because I don't want bad blood. Life is too god damned short to alienate people over politics.

I have no idea what to say. It would be a new post, not in reply to anyone else's post.

Any thoughts?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. What to say, my dear Bertha...

Since you don't want to offend them, you might say something like "You know all of you are dear to me. I will not allow our differing opinions on politics or on who to support for President to drive us apart."



I hope that's helpful.

[Irishonly]

2. I hide their threads if I don't wish to make waves

There are times I engage but when it is a family member I figure they know I think it is a shit post.

[pipi_k]

3. I go there on

a daily basis and have friends, neighbors, and family who also like Romney.

I scroll right past it all without comment.

Makes life so much easier and more peaceful.

Because, you know, they'll still be my friends, neighbors, and relatives long after this election is over.

[blueamy66]

28. me too

I have really religious family and friends and I just read what they wrote and move on.

It's just not worth it.....

[RiskWrangler]

4. Hi Bertha, I'll make a suggestion

that you do while in Facebook, go to the right where the sponsored story is..I presume it is a picture of Romney and above saying how all these friends of yours like him. In the top right corner of this story you can hover your cursor and an "X" will show up..you can click on to hide this story and you tell it why..such as it goes against your views. Hopefully that will get rid of seeing that particular side of them you don't find appealing. Works for me.

[Bertha Venation]

5. See what you don't know if you don't spend

a lot of time there?

Thanks, RiskWrangler.

[RiskWrangler]

8. Ha! Exactly. I try not to spend much time there myself, but

like you, if I can control my online environment just a "little" bit and enjoy my experience a bit more..why not?

[RedCloud]

23. Hi risk wrangler, Welcome to DU!

[RiskWrangler]

32. Thank You! N/T

[marzipanni]

6. I have few facebook friends on purpose

Unlike DU, Facebook stuff flies by with no easy way to catch up to with what you may have missed. You have to go to each friend's page to see if there's something they've posted while you weren't looking.
I like to see photos and hear about my great niece, and two new great nephews, and see stuff family and close friends put on Facebook.

One old friend from high school "likes Romney", and I was taken aback when his photo appeared on my wall!

I really have the feeling that she, a retired elementary school teacher, is swayed by her husband's choice for president.
I would like to post on my wall, with a "share" to her name, a few select graphics, cartoons, and stuff I get on DU and from MoveOn.
It will have to be mild-mannered so as not to offend her, maybe get her into a conversation with her husband if she kind of agrees with what I show her.

[argiel1234]

7. none of my facebook friends are right wing

in fact ive unfriended and blocked many teabagging racist types and have no regrets, including family members

life is too short to suffer bigots,racists, and assholes.

[Major Nikon]

9. Life is bigger than politics

Some people may not think so, but that's the way I see it.

[Taverner]

10. Don't offend them - your relationship with them is not a political one

I have family who are hard core fascists, centrist Republicans and Democrats, Religious Right Republicans, and a few tinfoil hatters.

I make a point not to share my political facebook posts with them.

I also have a brother who is a Baptist Minister - so naturally he doesn't get my atheist postings. He gets my political ones tho - he's the only Baptist Minister I've ever known who also is in the Green Party.

[Bertha Venation]

19. Taverner, how do you do that?

How can you post things and select who does and does not see them?

[Taverner]

24. Click the "friends" icon on a post

the image of two faces side by side, and then select custom, and either only include the people you want, or exclude only the people you don't want to see it.

[Jack1963]

11. Had the same thing happen...

Both a dear friend and a close family member appeared to "like" Mitt Romney's page on FB. I must admit, I was shocked and even a bit hurt. So I emailed them separately, just asking why they liked Romney's page.

Each one responded that they did NOT "like" Romney on FB, but they each had definitely seen that it had happened on their accounts. One swore that she did not accidentally hit "like" nor go to his page, yet it showed that she had "liked" him.

At the time, I wondered if perhaps Romney's FB page had found a way to get more "likes" without the person knowing.

[left-of-center2012]

12. Sneaky

"... I wondered if perhaps Romney's FB page had found a way to get more "likes" without the person knowing."
I think I read or heard something about unwanted Romney 'likes' appearing unsolicited.

[Arugula Latte]

33. That happened to someone I know on FB too.

She posted to tell people that she hadn't suddenly turned into a Romney lover.

[HopeHoops]

13. Pretend you never saw the posts.

[840high]

14. They're entitled to

their choices. So are you. Let it be.

[elleng]

15. I'm there regularly

and decided some time ago not to confront those several 'friends' who 'like' rmoney, largely high school classmates who I was going to see at reunion last month. Reunion went great.

What I do is only to post articles/facts giving all reasons to NOT 'like' rmoney, to recognize his flip-floppishness, and once, on a thread in which friend's daughter posted some incorrect crap, I directly posted true facts.

SO no confrontation, but if you're my 'friend,' you see what I 'like,' and maybe learn a thing or 2.

[Incitatus]

16. Don't call them out.

You are free to like whatever political pages you like and like and comment on those posts. That is what I do, but don't argue with my RW friends and family. There's really no point. 99.99% of the time you're both going to get pissed off and no one is going to change their mind.

[greatauntoftriplets]

17. I'm in the same boat as you...

except that there's only two of them. I just ignore it.

[spiderpig]

18. It still stings when someone disagrees with you

Guess it's a risk of posting. But at least on DU you can ban someone you think is really out of line. I just did today. Not worth my mental well-being having to look at a stupid, mean-spirited response.

There are so many nice, reasonable people in the world.

[clyrc]

20. I'm in the same boat

I ignore it the best that I can, although I'm on fb all the time and it seems like it wants to rub it in my nose, all the time. It's a little sad, though, one of my fb friends was my sister's best friend growing up. She was over at our house every weekend, almost without fail spending the night on Friday and Saturday. She is bi-polar, though, and since summer she's been in a bad state. A few weeks ago, she decided she was a big time repug, and she posts constantly about it after never being worried about politics before. I wrote my sister a note saying it's funny that at the same time her friend goes crazy again, she goes crazy politically too, but it really isn't funny. I suspect her husband is a repug, and she's trying to impress him to stay together, because she wrote me that he was having a hard time dealing with her illness.

[Bossy Monkey]

21. You hover over their names, then hover over Friends

then click on Settings, then uncheck Comments and Likes. Life, as you say, is too short. You can always go back in a week and change it back.

[Broken_Hero]

22. I have a decent handful

of RWers that are family/friends and when they go off about Obama or whatever I just ignore it. I also got a handful of friends who are libertarian/conspiracy theory types and I ignore them too. Most of the RWers I've taken them off my wall so I don't have to see their rantings on a daily basis.

[SoCalDemGrrl]

25. I avoid Facebook altogether. Causes too much family trouble, too intrusive - not worth it

at all.

I have had friends who have been ostracized by family members over the most menial postings...

had others stalked by former boyfriends and annoyed by high school classmates who they never

wanted to speak to again.....

I'm sorry, but IMHO Facebook is a waste of time.

(yeah yeah - I know you can unfriend,avoid,ignore, etc. etc.- still it's a freakin waste of my time)

[Bertha Venation]

27. I don't blame you in the least.

Two and a half years ago I got into a lot of trouble with my beloved's niece. I posted that we had just picked out our wedding rings. Niece went off on me because she hadn't known we were getting married. For about a month, Niece and Mrs. V. exchanged heated emails -- niece unexpectedly blasted homophobia all over the place. They reconciled a few months later. But it was a very angry and uncomfortable time.

[crunch60]

26. I have a favorite cousin who is a Republican and I am very liberal. Spent one week with him on

my vacation.. Never once talked politics, This is the best way to keep friends and family when you know their political viewpoints are carved in stone. They won't listen to you anyway, so why ruin your time with them.

[Enrique]

29. roughly half the country likes Romney

among them your five friends. And I'm sure they realize that roughly half the country likes Obama, why would they be offended that you are one of them?

[begin_within]

30. Change your profile picture to say

"Republicans Keep Out"

Then de-friend them ALL.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

31. I don't go to stepson's page.

He was passing on a lot of hateful anti-Obama crap. I explained to him why hate speech is not acceptable and he did not get it. I also hurt his feelings by telling him I was sick of right wing horseshit. He is very naive and does not reason through what he passes on. His girlfriend is a liberal and she didn't understand why hate speech is not acceptable either. Told them I couldn't tolerate hate speech. He was raised in a fundie environment and is now a rabid atheist instead of a rabid Christian.