Posting political commentary on Facebook is fraught with peril and fun

[Perky]

My friends on Facebook are very much a mixed bag. On the one hand my extended family is full of fired up Dems. But I also have lots of friends from church who wile also across the spectrum are largely apolitical except for a few vocal conservatives. and some professional connections who politics I have no infor about.


So in the last two days I have posted about
Glenn Beck
Healthcare Reform


Well my word. Talk about fireworks. Wow.

On Beck My the Conservatives are ignoring Beck and yelling about Obama comments. But the lawyers in my family are smacking down their legal reasoning.

On HCR, I actually framed my initial post in terms of HRC being an issue of Biblical Justice and compassion vs selfishness and fear mongering

Oddly (hmm) the church friends don't want to deal with that and have come back with the usual stuff about Britain and Canada and malpractice rates


The doctors are smacking down the Cnserviatives on tort reform based on their experience in Texas and everyone is jumping in on comparative care with other industrialzed countries.

My friends from church don't have a prayer.

But it ought to fun nest Sunday Morning.

[sunnybrook]

1. I just had this experience!

My friends are generally liberal but lately some members of my extended family have friend requested me... how do you turn down your cousin that you will see at Christmas dinner? But they are extreme evangelicals, in fact just a few years ago they did not believe in tv, much less computers. They post polls about why they can't stand Obama, etc.... I just posted something about Henry Louis Gates not even being read his Miranda rights. The white folks are all over that, and my fam is probably ready to pass out! UGH!

[Perky]

2. It is great when its fairly anonymous but very fifferent when you get ito the real world

we should be the same regardless... neither shy or outrageous in what we say about what we believe

[sunnybrook]

4. I am sure you are right

I just have always lived a very divided life regarding my family. I respect their beliefs and they know I am "going to hell" by their beliefs, but we keep our disagreements out of things.

[Unvanguard]

9. If you don't want them commenting, you can adjust your privacy settings so they can't see it.

I maintain the vast majority of my Facebook friends on "Limited Profile"; I'm not sure it's a good idea for anyone else to see my statuses, but certainly not for the whole lot...

[Aristus]

3. A cousin of mine in Oklahoma is one of my Facebook friends. I don't think she's a raging

hard-right conservative; but she posted a poll that favored urging President Obama to apologize to Officer Crowley. I commented by asking what was Professor Gates going to get? Surely Crowley owed it to him to say "Boy did I act like an idiot. Of COURSE it was your own house! I should have moved on after you showed me your ID. I am a jerk!"

Haven't heard from her since...

[harun]

5. I've seen a few of my old high school classmates posting political

stuff on there, freeper stuff. They are really the only ones and I think it makes them look like kool-aid drinkers.

[Unvanguard]

6. I love posting political commentary on Facebook. I do it constantly.

My friends are mostly of the left variety, though occasionally we'll have some dispute.

[donco6]

7. My family claims to be "moderate" . . .

. . . but my BIL just posted a glowing review of Palin's Quitter speech.

Sheesh.

[Matt_in_STL]

8. My brother-in-law deleted me from his friends list

He would post the same regurgitated RW talking points and post debunked charts and items constantly. He finally got tired of me replying to every post and pointing out where he was wrong, including links to back it up, and demanding he provide proof of his points - it made him look bad among his conservative friends. One day in the midst of a back-and-forth he took me off his friends list.

[Hello_Kitty]

10. It's my new addiction.

You not only converse with your own fb friends, but with their friends and friends of friends and so on. That's how I end up getting into arguments with wingnuts. What's great is how you get to pwn them and their ignorant crap publicly.

[PretzelWarrior]

11. my wife and I just LOVE doing it. we've "come out" as to who we are

and it's kind of fun to be polite and tactful and yet leave no room for error on where you stand with issues. I used to only do it anonymously under usernames. Now my high school and college classmates, long lost relatives and friends and others I've collected over time get to hear our views on Gates, health care, etc.

[Wendio]

12. Sounds familiar...

I made it a point NOT to post anything political because I knew it would turn ugly.
The fundie in-laws started it with posting polls about Sarah Palin for president.
All it took was a good discussion on the need for HCR between the progressives to stop them in their tracks.
Nothing but crickets ever since!