I freely admit that I love the Internet and social media, probably to a fault. I love the connection it provides with friends, some old, some new, some I only know because we share common goals, hobbies, beliefs, or "likes" online. I love the fact a community can come together and support a family whose child is battling cancer, or encourage a friend who lost a job, or pray for one another when we're suffering, struggling, whiny, or otherwise in need of a helping hand.

What I don't love is the constant barrage of conflict and strife. Don't get me wrong, I don't really care what people post. If I don't agree with it I simply (like a grown-up) ignore it. If it gets too stupid, I just don't visit that blog, or follow that individual, anymore. I've learned the hard way not to read comments on anything remotely controversial. The level of vitriol is much too high.


Lately, I find myself hitting the backspace and delete buttons frequently, and hesitating longer and longer over the "like" and "share" buttons. Why? Because I don't want to engage in an argument with what seems to be an increasingly large number of very unhappy people who are just looking for a fight.

When did we become such a miserable, self-righteous (no matter which side of the spectrum you fall on), venomous, angry nation? And why?

Just today I've been bombarded by debates about Hobby Lobby vs. Obamacare, vaccinations (I'm not even going to open that can of worms so just talk to the hand...), animal rights in China, animal rights at zoos, animal rights on Animal Planet, fracking, evolution vs. creation, the "gay agenda," green lawns as a crime against humanity, Medicare paying for penis pumps (seriously???), what really happened to flight 370 (like anyone knows), the threat of war in Russia and Ukraine, and so on and so forth.

I'm tired.

All of those subjects are important, and they are all worthy of discussion. But when the "discussion" turns into that kind of "discussion" your parents used to have that woke you up from a sound sleep... that's when things get messy.

We aren't going to solve anything by sniping at each other in comments on FB, or on a blog, or tweeting our opinions. The solution to our problems is going to be found when we stop looking at each other as the opposing team, start recognizing all the things we have in common, and start putting ourselves in each other's shoes.

Yeah, I know. Not gonna happen. At least not on a large scale. But I can do that, myself. I can stop and consider someone else's perspective before I lambaste them in a public forum. I can take a moment to recall all of the opinions and perceptions I've clung to for dear life that have drastically changed over the course of my two-score and three years (Doesn't two-score sound better than 40-something?) and offer some grace and mercy to others who are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt they are RIGHT about whatever they believe they are right about. I can choose kindness, compassion, and understanding, even when I disagree, disapprove, and dislike someone else's stance.

Ghandi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world."
Maybe the Internet is the perfect opportunity to practice...

Remember back in the days before the Internet?
(Seriously, there was life before the Internet.)

We used to receive these things in the mailbox called "chain letters." Generally they arrived with no return address, promised wealth and blessing and all good things if you complied with the letter's demands, and everything from the pox to crop failure to certain death if you didn't. The demands involved making multiple copies of the letter (this before the days of at-home copiers or scanners) and sending them out within a certain period of time to a number of friends and relations.

And although we have advanced so far technologically that "snail mail" and hand-written copies of anything are practically obsolete, we have NOT, it appears, advanced beyond the puerile need to torment, terrorize, and tick off our friends and family members. Now we have email scams and Facebook hoaxes, and with the advent of Photoshop and all its copycat programs, the ability for any goofball with a computer to create just about any picture of anything and make it look completely real. (Sorry, the tiger is the victim of Photoshop... like most of the models in our fashion magazines.)

Jane Fonda, for those who don't know the story already. http://www.snopes.com/military/fonda.asp

And the silly stories NEVER go away.
Think back... in the '90s our email accounts burgeoned with threats of tainted lipstick, the address of a child in England dying of a dread disease who just wanted a postcard sent to his bedside, free Victoria's Secret panties, rumors about atheist Madelyn Murray O'Hair's imminent plan to take over the nation's airwaves, and static-triggered gas station explosions. As we surfed the web for hours on end, our screens were inundated with pop-ups promising us we were the lucky winners of a free laptop and cruises to Mexico... just click.

And click we did. I spent almost a full week extricating our bank account from a selection of subscriptions and various products my DH inadvertently signed up for. He's an optimist. He really believed that free laptop gimmick was true.


And now we have Facebook, Twitter, and social media. And nothing has changed.
Every day I watch my FB friends, sometimes people I have known and respected almost my entire life, fall victim to these sneaky tricks, posting and sharing and reposting things that have long since been proven false or at the very least are so suspicious they're worth a bit more examination. Even when someone comes right out and says, "Hey, that's not true!" the posting and sharing continues unabated.

THIS is false, and foolish, and pointless. You can't protect your FB privacy with a status update.

As Winston Churchill said,
"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on."

 I didn't even include the dozen or more other questionable posts I found JUST TODAY. We're being deluged with lies designed to waste our time, make us resent our country and our government (like anyone needs help with that), pluck our heartstrings, bring us to tears, and make us afraid of everything from robotic mosquitoes to deadly toxic mold in our Capri Sun packages.

Just check stuff out before passing it on.
Bill Cosby and Morgan Freeman will probably thank you.