If I've learned one thing about FB, it's that people just want to lecture.

[closeupready]

I joined Facebook only last year. I've tried approaching it kind of like I approach DU - posting a story, my views about it, and inviting feedback. Time and again, it's as if I hadn't posted them. No likes, no comments.

Instead, I get to see lots of fundies post God and Jesus stuff, or else stuff about immigrants 'taking our jobs, DAMMIT!' or some nonsensical thing about guns/assault weapons/'you'll have to pry my guns out of my cold dead hands'/etc. Typically, those get dozens of likes, and backslapping approving comments.

Mind you, my 'friends' are mostly old classmates from back home. Now, it's been 30 years since I lived there - moved out of town, out of state, out of region, and I hardly ever get back there. Further, my work/social circle is highly educated, East Coast, affluent, and as to social circle, almost exclusively gay.

It's funny how powerful parochialism can be. Can I be forgiven for thinking that the villagers with whom I grew up maybe wanted to grow and learn? What was I thinking?

I mean, I guess it does make me remember why I high-tailed it out of there in the first place. And these aren't bad people as such - just ignorant, fundamentalist, and reveling in all that.

[Aristus]

1. Just unfollow them.

Save yourself the aggravation.

[closeupready]

2. Yeah, or I'm thinking maybe deactivating my account there.

Aside from Criminal Case, what's the point?

[blueamy66]

3. Seeing families' pics...especially the little ones

Reading how my friends back home are doing...keeping up on my sports' teams....laughing at funny pics...enjoying loved ones' successes....

Maybe you should unfriend some "friends".

[closeupready]

4. Yeah, that's a good point.

Thanks.

[blueamy66]

5. To me, there's more good stuff than bad stuff.

I went to Catholic school and all of my family is either Catholic or non-denom Christian and conservative Republicans. They really don't post much political stuff. When they do, I just move right along. I see a lot of religious pictures and inspirational "sayings" and I skim them then move along.

I don't know...seeing my ginger headed 2 year old great nephew Beckham's smile just makes my day!

[Frank Cannon]

6. Same experience here.

It's amazing how many of my high school friends have turned into drooling, raving, anti-science, pro-gun, bigoted maniacs. Or maybe they were always that way, and I was just too young to know.

I spend very little time on Facebook. It is a silly place.

[closeupready]

7. That's another thing - I also didn't know too much about my classmates back then.

So it's possible they were always like that, and I just didn't know because I didn't hang much with my classmates.

And to be fair, the same would apply to me - they also didn't really know me, perhaps.

I have started to diary my exercise regimen, and that's seems to be a popular type of thing to post, and it's getting a lot of likes. I'll just stick to light banter like that, and refrain from getting pulled in to God stuff and bickering with Republicans.

[Bucky]

8. Well that sucks.

I find it useful to stick to just-the-facts when engaging in political discussions on Facebook. But try running a counter on them. There's one coworker who had a habit of posting rightwing rants on FB, followed by ad hominems against the president. So I took to adding "This is the 3rd time I've had to correct the bad information you got from Fox" or "This is the 4th time I've had to point out you got your facts wrong" if they didn't cite anyone.

After a while I got two kinds of follow ups: lols and people telling me to quit picking on Jimmy. But Jimmy gradually quit being so assinine with his posts.