I used to be a raging politiholic. I was addicted to the going-ons of the government, and kept very up to date on just what was going on. For one, I was on all sorts of email lists so like-minded people could send me their sob-stories and I could sign petitions. But most of my information came from my Facebook feeds. I followed pages like Being Liberal and We Survived Bush, You Will Survive Obama. Accordingly, they were quite liberal in how much they posted.
For a long time, I stayed very informed, and it was good stuff. Slanted to the left, yes, but I trusted my sources because they were okay admitting when they were wrong and openly invited those that opposed them to debate issues.
The only problem with that is… I’m a writer. Not a politician. I was starting to read through all this stuff like it was my career. And sure, I knew my facts, and could duke it out with the best of them, but it became obvious to me that no one really cared, especially those at SMSU. Sure, there are political clubs, but the membership is pretty low and less people know about them than read the Spur. When I tried bringing stuff up to debate, my friends and girlfriend just didn’t know the facts and I found myself preaching to them.
Not only that, but being up to date in politics is a pretty noticeable thing, a scarlet letter on your facebook wall.
It’s among the first things people see on your pages. Relationship status, religious views, and political views. If someone were to go digging through my likes, they’d see Telling Sarah Palin She’s Full of Crap. It would be very easy to be offended by these likes, just the same as I’d be offended by seeing ‘Obama Sucks!!!’ on someone else’s facebook (true story).
Furthermore, posting political stuff on Facebook seems to be the fastest way to lose friends. I’ve blocked people from my newsfeed for the same reason. I don’t know why it surprised me so much when I posted a political video on my wall and only one person liked it. I’d almost rather hear ‘Oh my god, I talked to Brad today, he’s sooo cute…’
My conclusion? Facebook and Politics do not mix. Not only does it occupy your time, but it pushes everything else away. Political pages tend to post a lot–I often had to dig through the posts to find updates from my friends. Which is why I unliked every single political page on my Facebook. Except for John Stewart. That guy’s hilarious.
