Posted on 09/18/2012 8:42:21 AM PDT by raccoonradio
Liking” a political candidate on Facebook is the new front yard campaign sign — except that it’s more like bringing that sign to the dinner table and waving it in your friends’ and family’s faces.
And that, social media experts and regular users of Facebook say, is a bad idea.
“Part of me wants to stay away from it, and part of me wants to go to the extreme and say, ‘I can’t believe you people,’ ” said Natalia Espinal of Waltham.
As the campaign for president has ramped up, the elementary school teacher, who describes herself as liberal, said Facebook has become a pressure cooker. Though most of her close friends share her political views, some co-workers and childhood friends don’t.
“ ‘Liking’ Mitt Romney is like putting a sign on your lawn, but writing a status you don’t agree with — you get really angry,” she said. “You don’t want to get involved, but you really want to.”
Steven Elsesser also finds political Facebook posts invite debate — and he usually engages. The 25-year-old registered Democrat said: “If I see something posted there and I think I have something constructive to say, I will note it.”
Elsesser, who grew up in a conservative New Hampshire home, said he and his mom have had some political disagreements on Facebook, and he tries to post links to studies or reports that factually back up his argument.
“My mom had a post about Planned Parenthood, and my reaction to that is ‘That isn’t true,” he recalled. “This is my mother. It bothers me that she thinks this thing is true. This is not some random voter. This is someone I know. I wouldn’t be a good active citizen if I didn’t say anything.”
He admits it would be healthier to say something face-to-face as opposed to via social media.
“Sometimes the comments escalate because you’re posting online instead of having the conversation. People might think you’re angry with them when you’re not. My mom will get defensive,” he said.
Which is why one etiquette expert votes for a ban of all political posts on Facebook.
“As a believer in democracy, we need to have these conversations, but not on Facebook. Go to rallies. Knock on your neighbors’ doors. Come over to my house to see the debate. But don’t go into why you should be voting for this person on Facebook. Convince them in person so there can be a real dialogue,” said Jodi R. R. Smith, president of Mannersmith, a North Shore-based etiquette consulting company.
Stephanie Weitzman, a Newton mother of two, agreed, saying she just has to count to 10 when she reads offensive posts from a former colleague.
“I get frustrated, but I haven’t unfriended him because I don’t know what the future holds and if I’d ever need to contact him,” she said.
I have family members who are big Dems etc. but other members who either are conservative or they're moderate but can't stand Obama and are "liking" Mitt, Brown (over Lieawatha), etc.
I think you can "like" a candidate but then have that be hidden. Not sure.
Of course we conservatives are a bunch of knuckle-dragging, Nazi, Rethuglicans who live in a previous century, want to force stuff down others' throats, fascist, fascist, fascist....according to them.
“I like Ike”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va5Btg4kkUE
There’s a DJ in Boston named Barry Scott who plays “Lost 45s”
(I guess other stations run it too). He is definitely liberal and openly gay and has referred to the GOP nominee’s first name by a rhyming word that refers to excrement. While he has let his political views be known on facebook, I was pleased to hear him play the Reagan “It’s Morning in America” ad on his show (part of a “do you remember this” segment). It was nice to hear.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUKAkm8A9nM
So, the article seems to be, to me, written about the travails of a “Romney” supporter “liking” something on Facebook. Why no Obama-likes-are-stupid? Let’s face it, Facebook is a myriad of self-absorbed, self-adulating, insecure people who apparently have nothing better to do. They might as well be walking around with placards that say “love me!” instead of those “we buy gold” hawkers we see by the road all the time.
Awwww, sounds like some people don’t like that conservatives are on facebook too! That was only supposed to be *their* tool for organizing, spreading the message, etc, wasn’t it?
I seem to remember a tidal wave of leftist democrat BS in a constant stream. The people i know who think that way are always trying to outdo each other with how committed they are to the cause. Likes, comments on stories, wanting you to support their groups, etc.
They are suddenly offended when someone likes their opposition. Last, that kid in the article. Do they have any idea how annoying they are when they “engage” and spew their “facts”, to “correct” hard learned beliefs of people twice their age? Obnoxious.
Well, I clicked like on the “I Will Not Vote for Obama” page so it is on my wall now. I also have likes for Mark Levin, Sarah Palin, and Paul Ryan. I’ve gotten sick of facebook though and avoid it as much as possible. I find it highly annoying.
I don’t care a whit for Facebook. I only use my account to post political stuff to like minded people. I block all posts from Obamugabe supporters. I’m more of a political junkie than most of my friends; so I glean more articles to post that they may not have seen. If political posts upset one’s “friends”, then maybe they weren’t real friends in the first place. One of my “friends” was a school teacher who boasted of her attempts to convince her students to support Obama.
Gee, how interesting that all of these exasperated FB people who are quoted are Obamugabe voters....
I think that this article is utter Bullsh#t! I’ve had people admonish me that posting my political views won’t change anyone’s mind. I don’t want to change anyone’s mind. I just want to remind them of what dumb-@$$e$ they are for inflicting Obama on the rest of us!
I have a bunch of friends on both sides. I’ve explained many times that my farcebook page is not a democracy. It’s a totalitarian dictatorship and I’m the dictator. I’ve had plenty of people defriend me and I could care less. The people that wear big boy pants are still there even though they disagree with me.
I have such a problem with this...I constantly post things to Facebook that I know my lib friends and some conservatives, probably will not have seen. It’s almost a compulsion. I probably have lost one relationship from it - a hard-left sister-in-law, who now ignores my attempts to get in touch. So recently I decided to save my posts to Twitter - where I don’t have any friends or relatives. But I’ve already broken my resolution - when I see things - like the photo of that filmaker being dragged off by the FBI in the middle of the night - it pisses me off so much that I have to post it- to alert my fellow citizens. I guess it’s a bad idea - I’m sure a lot of folks are angry at me, but part of me doesn’t care. I feel like my country is at stake.
Good point, reminding them what they’ve given us. It’s tough to change minds—especially of moonbats that will vote for Obama no matter what. (Then again I guess there’s a doc.
coming out, The Hope and the Change, right?, with people who voted for Teleprompter Man in 08 but will NOT this year.)
This objective gets frustrated when conservatives on FB see lots of other conservatives around, who point people at articles where the conservative view gets explained.
Yes and I have defriended people (especially if they’re only marginal friends, etc.) for their political views. In some cases (I do volunteer work for a college station) we interview musicians, and I post their interviews online. I friend them on facebook so they can get the link, etc. Then I get what I
call PBS: Political Bull S-—.
Sometimes I may love their music, but hate their politics.
I find that liberals are really obnoxious on Facebook. Most of the conservatives I know will click “like” for something they agree with, but they’re not constantly arguing, scolding and lecturing everyone, like the libs do. I have blocked many a rude, self-righteous lib because they destroy my enjoyment of Facebook.
I don’t Facebook and I don’t tweet. Waste of time.
I made only one exception for a 17 year old step-nephew who is still too dumb and inexperienced to know better.
The saying is that liberals will tolerate opposing views then are SHOCKED TO FIND OUT THAT THERE ARE OPPOSING VIEWS.
And they try to shut it down. For a couple yrs they even tried to get the Fairness Doctrine passed to silence conservative talk radio.
>>This objective gets frustrated when conservatives on FB see lots of other conservatives around, who point people at articles where the conservative view gets explained.
Good point...I do see people like a music promoter I know,
a big lib, who expresses his pro-Obama views...then get comments like “how can you possibly vote for this guy?” etc.
People like musicians who you might expect to be liberal but maybe are more moderate—and they basically say to the guy, hey, this Obama is too far left and I’ve had enough. There may be a “silent majority” win for Mitt that people don’t
expect (especially since a lot of the polls are heavily weighted toward Dems).
I was just looking at a Wikipedia page for the ‘72 pres election, a landslide that had Nixon getting over 500 electoral votes. McGovern got MA and DC, that’s it. Bumper stickers here in MA read: Mass: The One and Only. Don’t Blame Me I’m from Massachusetts. Nixon 49, America 1.
What a beat down for the Dems. (I was 10 at the time.)
And was interested to read on same page that McGovern tried to get Ted Kennedy as a running mate but was turned down.
They wound up getting Sargent Shriver instead (National Lampoon once had a feature called Sargent Shriver’s Bleeding Hearts Club Band, ha.)
Not Liking something can get people upset as well...I had one “friend” admonish me, because she noticed I never “Liked” her posts advocating “Marriage Equality.”
How often do your Lib acquaintances post political items? Do they seem to care at all what the effect is on you?
We need to say "no" to the "dictatorship of the easily offended"
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