Facebook makes you dive into humanity, hear things you do not want to hear, and defend what you have to say. It is for those with opinions or for those who had not previously had the courage to share them.
And fence-sitters, of course. It also attracts the reasoned, the not-so reasoned, the civil and the uncivil.
The biased and the unbiased. It is for people with ideas and sadly those without any. It whispers or shouts dissent. But mostly it’s a society of our own creation.
Unfortunately, it gives a safe house to those with the cut of sarcasm and the political nutters who without it have no voice.
Many times those who inhabit the extremities of right-wing politics have demonised me. Those feral types who would not have their voices heard elsewhere.
Friendships are made when the tyranny of distance is broken by the written word. It makes possible the resumption of friendships long since lost in the overlook of time.
With technology not thought of in our youth but readily accepted by the young it is but a click or two away – the correspondence of today.
People live on our Facebook front doors and you can see, feel or hear them. Their voices give credence to their presence. It is no substitute for the charisma of another’s presence, but it makes for an excellent second best. To be able to reach out to a single person a thousand miles away a century ago would’ve been God-like in its essence
As a tool for social networking nothing surpasses it – families included.
Dating I cannot opine about but it is useful for business. Video chat fits easily into Facebook’s seemingly endless possibilities, as do news and information. Politics being my main interest and means of friendly persuasion seems to start on Facebook and ends with The AIMN.
It does have privacy and fake profile issues but the biggest downside is one’s time that it seems to engulf in enormous amounts.
My truth is that Facebook is the first thing I open every morning. If I have an article that has also been posted on The AIMN then I share it on 100 Facebook pages that I’m a member of.
Facebook suffices for My thoughts for the day. They seem to have attracted a small but significant following of thoughtful people who add their opinions to what I say.
I have never been able to work out why it is that if I post a piece as plain text it is likely to get more reads than a linked version to The AIMN. Much more satisfying for the intellectual journey.
Reading the comments of my articles on the various pages, together with my email and messenger communications is all very time-consuming. Mostly I just press ‘Like’ and hope that it suffices and that people will understand that it is impossible to comment on everyone’s. I do read them all.
One is often surprised with the total comments one gets but at the same time I’m left wondering just how many of my friends are actually “live” so to speak.
Some days I get 10-20 friend requests and I haven’t a clue as to why people do it, given I never hear from them again. Maybe they just like my thoughts without complication.
With great certainty as I peruse Facebook every morning I find many links from it to the many fine articles on The AIMN. This is but one of many ways I digest my news and commentary.
So Facebook to me has become somewhat of a complicated beast. It doesn’t have the political quality of discussion that The AIMN has but nonetheless is part of my daily life.
Social media used wisely can enhance your life and provide an opportunity to share similar interests and ideas with people who otherwise would not do so.
It opens up a treasure chest of thoughts you may not have considered and an opportunity to debate them.
As with drums, smoke signals, word of mouth, the printing press, the pen, books, the telephone, newspapers, film, radio, television, tablets, type writers, computers and so on all these things over the centuries have, all in there own way, provided us with a sense of community and inter-connectedness.
For some it is not a mandatory part of being who we are where as for others if gives them a voice in matters that concern them.
Nobody forces you to read a newspaper or send smoke signals. Facebook is at the end of a lingering line of historical means of communicating with fellow humans and it probably wont be the last.
It will not however, replace the human touch, the reverberation of the human voice or the aroma of life that we all so fervently require.
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My thought for the day
No one group should think they have an ownership of righteousness, or ideas for that matter.
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