Facebook, Politics, and the Resistance to You Know Who

Post date: Mar 17, 2017 9:20:54 PM

Facebook, Politics and the Resistance to You Know Who

A blog post for March 14

The first few weeks of the new administration have been exciting, to say the least! (Others might substitute the word “alarming” or “chaotic” for exciting, to be sure). We’ve been rocked by Executive Orders that seem harsh and extreme, and the protests in response to the election results turned into protests against those Executive orders.

Reactions to the political turmoil have shown up on Facebook with people divided between those who complain that they don’t want to read “all of those political posts” and others using Facebook to reach out to those with common hopes and fears. Do we ignore Trump’s lies, orders, and antics and the growing scandal in his administration, which has already seen one top adviser step down, and now has the newly confirmed Attorney General in the crosshairs for lying to a committee? Should we just post cool kitty videos and recipes?

Some of us have reluctantly unfriended those who could not be civil, in spite of friendships decades long. Others have pulled back from Social Media, feeling disillusioned and burned out. Many of us are more wary now, and find ourselves paying more attention to those who agree with us or feel safer to share our feelings and frustrations with, to avoid confrontations.

Back in November NPR did a story about the impact of the election on social media, “Postelection, Overwhelmed Facebook Users Unfriend, Cut Back.” They were flooded with email messages from people who were overwhelmed; some of them wrote 1,000 word essays. When I first read that article on NPR last fall, I was struck with the comment by one person who described herself as a moderate, pro-life, anti-Trump Republican. "Let's be honest, most political conversation happens on social media these days ... for better or for worse," writes Carmen Jenkins, "If I want to have a voice in this conversation, I better engage," she says. "I better engage in a way that promotes dialogue rather than shutting it down with judgments and generalizations."

I agree! I have decided to remain active on Facebook. I focus on both local and national issues and post links to stories from mainstream media. I follow my local legislators and “like” their posts and promote Forums. I have two reasons for doing this. First, I was alarmed last year to read the results of a survey done by Pew that revealed at least 40% of American adults got their news on Facebook. That number is surely higher for young adults, as many of my college students told me that they relied on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media for their news. So I feel a responsibility to inform my followers and to resist the urge to ignore it all, because it won’t make it stop.

Second, I am alarmed by the administration’s attacks on the media, as well as on the facts. I have never heard of another administration ignoring major news outlets and catering to small religious websites and blogs, or refusing to let media into a press conference. I cannot recall “alternative facts” being offered by any other White House, or reading tweets that sound like they were composed in a closet by someone wearing a tin foil hat after hearing the newest conspiracy theory on Fox news. So, I follow local and national news, and try to cut through the noise of fake news and comment on what is happening in the news.

I am equally alarmed by the way that the Republican party on both the local and national level is using this opportunity to push through legislation fresh off the internet or printer from ALEC, the KOCH brothers, the National Rifle Association, and other corporations. Some of these proposed laws are very radical and would profoundly change our great state and nation. We cannot afford to stick our heads in the sand: when we come back up, we may see a very different country, with limited freedoms, a gigantic Wall that will cost a fortune, an old West of guns everywhere, with women being shoved back in the kitchen, and lots of pipelines, mines, and hunting going on in our once pristine national parks.

Maybe we can’t stop all of these things from happening, but I must try. I have the heart of an educator and when this old English Professor reads the tangled logic and tortured explanations for why some of these laws are needed, my first response is to try to cut through the rhetoric and figure out what is going on. “School choice?” Oh, yes, our tax dollars go to for-profit schools: it’s a big business, right, Betsy DeVoss? Maybe the Public Schools can have another bake sale for textbooks and lab equipment.

So, see you all on Facebook and Twitter. :^)

Side bar -- Sources

http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/11/20/502567858/post-election-overwhelmed-facebook-users-unfriend-cut-back Postelection, Overwhelmed Facebook Users Unfriend, Cut Back. November 20, 2016

Last updated March 17, 2017