I have been on this site for over 9 years. I haven't written a diary in quite some time. I hope will indulge me a bit of a personal rant.
I just cleared out several Facebook friends. I like Facebook because I can keep track of life events of distant relatives and friends. It helped me when Japan had it’s earthquake and Tsunami - I have a cousin stationed in the north of Japan. He was assigned to offer aid to the Japanese people after that. I’m very proud of him. I found out my Godson’s girlfriend was pregnant and now I get to watch his son grow, even though he lives 1200 miles away. I swap pie recipes with my wife’s cousin who is on the east coast. She gave me a great tip to add Scotch to my pie crust. In many ways, it has been great. But it seems more and more frequently, it is becoming a cesspool of ignorant political opinion. I am in the process of ‘unfriending’ a lot of old friends and associates.
I have had several ‘discussions’ with these individuals. Fortunately, I have been able to leave before I have put something out there that is really damaging. But most time when I engage with a few of these individuals, they always says something like ‘I just want to have a discussion’. I'm sorry, but that is not possible. Because we aren’t even speaking the same language. This diary is a cathartic exercise in my frustration. Every one of these paragraphs is something that was presented by my FB friends - who are now no longer my friends. Follow me below the orange French looking thing if you care to read my rant.
We cannot have a discussion if you believe that there is no scientific evidence that one is born with the sexuality that they have. At that point, there is no study or paper or link I can give you to continue the discussion.
While were at it, If you support a private company that donates it’s profits to hate organizations, then we can’t even begin to discuss appropriate use of my hard earn dollars. Oh and you say you are a strong Christian for supporting said company. I’ve read the New Testement - I remember ‘Love your Brother’ - and there wasn’t exception clause for ‘teh gayz’.
If you use a luke warm positive interview three years after the ‘ashamed’ incident by the Dixie Chicks from a ‘reporter’ who three years earlier raked them over the coals as evidence of ‘liberal media bias’, well, we have no way of discussing the state of journalism in this country.
We cannot have a discussion if you believe that you joined the military to defend freedom of religion and this means that you get to restricting the religion of others. Namely stoping a Muslim community center in Lower Manhattan.
We cannot have a discussion if you believe that Obama is trying to use a farm labor regulation to prevent you from assigning your children chores. Especially when said farm regulation started under the Bush administration. And the regulations have explicit exceptions for your own children, because that is what the freaking law states. Oh and calling Obama a ‘monster’ in the process is a real discussion killer.
We really cannot discuss the Second Amendment if you believe the Obama administration used federal money to buy assault weapons, given them to Mexican drug cartels in order to increase gun violence so that his Attorney General can call for stricter gun control laws. Especially when gun laws have been consistently loosened under this administration.
A discussion on Obama’s failures cannot not be had based upon the writings of an individual who claims that Chelsea Clinton was the product of Bill Clinton raping Hilary Clinton. And if you defend the possibility of that actually occurring, you pretty much render me speechless.
We really can’t discuss healthcare when you use a quote from Margaret Thatcher as the bases for hating the ACA. The ACA was the brainchild of the Heritage Foundation - especially the hated ‘individual mandate’. Who does the Heritage Foundation list as their patron? Margaret Thatcher. That is just filled with fail.
Oh and - in that discussion about Thatcher? You also claim that taxing the rich ends up hurting the society and no one wins. Without being able to point a single society where that occurs and the society as a whole is succeeding. Yes, and somehow adding your ‘Christian’ beliefs as the basis for that philosophy. Those ‘socialist’ countries? They’re kicking our ass. Those low flat tax countries? They have raw sewage in the streets.
We can’t have a discussion if you believe Zimmerman is a ‘victim’ and a ‘hero’ and you contribute to his defense fund. Regardless of the confrontation - he was specifically told not to pursue. What ever happened to personal responsibility?
And finally, if you call yourself a scientist, but you continually believe that the scientific evidence of Anthropological Global Warming is a conspiracy by scientist to get more money from their governments - we really have nothing to talk about. Tree rings may indicate that the Roman times were realtively warmer, but it does NOT disprove that climate change isn’t happening. We can’t even discuss the weather.
So, I’m sorry. We have nothing to discuss.
Update: Wow. Thanks for the sympathetic ear. This is a really a great community.