Facebook Post: 2018-01-11T09:47:51

Facebook is a great place to catch up with friends and see how they’re doing in life. Share pictures, laugh at jokes, commiserate during the hard times, that kind of thing. It can also, sometimes, be a great place to learn new things or share different points of view, something I actively engage in and support wholeheartedly.

Unfortunately, it’s also a place where a great deal of negativity occurs. It boggles my mind, but people will post things here – lies, slander, fake news that is less believable than the Weekly World News, and they do it with abandon. Behavior that would lose us friends if we did it in person is not only acceptable on social media, but actively encouraged and lauded. This disappoints and disgusts me.

I always try to be careful to not ignore or block people with radically different viewpoints than mine. I don’t have to agree with you in order to try and understand what you believe and I just might learn something in the process. I think it’s extremely important to do that in order to avoid surrounding yourself with only things that you agree with. You cut yourself off from too much.

Lies and other such actions aren’t different viewpoints, though. They’re not different politics, religions or world views. They’re an attempt to harm others by manipulation, disinformation or just plain hostility. I’ve said it before, and I’ll keep saying it -“If you have to lie to prove your case, then you’re doing it wrong.” We’re human beings, we’re not perfect and I don’t expect any of us to be, but damn…

By Dan Granot

I chose the Shorter Whitman because of his work, "Song of Myself" and because of my self-deprecating sense of humor. I am under no illusion that I can write successful essays or poetry, but I have been known to write them anyway.

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