Huckleberries Online

MamaJD: Keep Politics Outta My Face

Feb. 18, 2009 9:45 a.m. • 35 comments

I love Facebook. I love keeping “in touch” without the actual touching that life used to require before Facebook. I check in daily and get updated on my peeps should they choose to provide any new updates on their lives. What I can’t stand is the occasional political opinion that a “friend” chooses to broadcast via Facebook. It puts me in a quandry. I’m so used to political expression that occurs in a blog type format, such as Huckleberries Online, where disagreement and debate is moderated and encouraged. Often that is where I read and sometimes participate in political discourse. It throws me off to see political topics creep into the profiles of my Facebook friends/MamaJD. More here.

Question: Does MamaJD have a good point re: keeping politics — and mebbe religion — out of online forums like Facebook?

35 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Aliasjax on February 18 at 10:07 a.m.
No, she is not right, imo. What my friends think is infinitely more important to me than knowing, for example, that they’re at the grocery store, or stuck in traffic…
Cabbage Boy on February 18 at 10:20 a.m.
Isn’t that the beauty of facebook? Couldn’t you just un-friend those that you don’t wanna see?

I am being facetious here MamaJD, but should we get the idaho legislature involved in this?
MamaJD on February 18 at 10:24 a.m.
No — I don’t want the Idaho Legislature involved. I guess I need to un-friend a relative since he seems to want to instigate via Facebook.

If I un-friend someone via Facebook, that shouldn’t bleed over into real life, right? ;)
Arch_Druid on February 18 at 10:36 a.m.
My interests are news, religion and politics. People who put their personal stuff online and I am not sure what to say to them. The exception would be if they talk books and music. In a democracy such as ours, politics is as much a way of life as any other issue. The only way that would change is if this were a tyranny instead.

I have no problem debating politics with anyone. I think what MamaJD should consider is that politics can be debated in a truly civil manner as opposed to partisan rants and raves. That can turn anyone off.
jazzyvandal on February 18 at 10:42 a.m.
I admit, I got carried away with posting political articles on Facebook during the election. I decided to stop when someone got in an argument with me. I have since stopped. Some other guy on my friends list likes to post right wing media stuff. You can change the settings on facebook to “see less of this friend”. I have used it.
Cabbage Boy on February 18 at 10:43 a.m.
Depends on the person MJD. If it bleeds over into real life, then that person needs to get a life. You can always pull out the line, “sorry, but your political rants were annoying. Now they are not.”
GaryIngram on February 18 at 11:20 a.m.
I’m new to facebook and still wondering hows it fits for me. My “friends” include some of my family and the forum is unlike a blog as we tend to talk as if we were just visiting at a summer barbecue. Blogs are for mischief. Facebook for visiting. Emails for whatever else. How’s that?
MamaJD on February 18 at 11:35 a.m.
I agree, Gary. I just think there is a time and place. The problem is when you are FB Friends, what you write is put through a newsfeed.

I appreciate the heads up on the “less of this friend” feature. It’s too bad that is only a feature that you find on the internet. There’s been many times I have wished for that option in the real world.
jazzyvandal on February 18 at 12:13 p.m.
On your newsfeed (what you see right when you log into facebook), point to newsfeed item of the friend you want to see less of. Click on options, then less of (your friends name).
Cindy_H on February 18 at 12:24 p.m.
I’m resisting peer pressure to do Facebook, so far anyway, but I have to say the ability to unfriend people is a real lure. In fact, there’s a few people in my past that I’d love to add as a Facebook friend just to unfriend them.
See?
It’s best for my personal growth that I don’t Facebook.
toadman on February 18 at 12:28 p.m.
I was unfriended on Facebook by a family member for simply having joined the Obama facebook group. I did not instigate.

It hurt. It felt petty and spiteful, and it still hurts.
MikeK on February 18 at 12:37 p.m.
Technical question - if you “unfriend” someone do they get an alert? Some person whom I think I’m supposed to know from high school has joined my Facebook network and I’m not sure what the protocol is for booting them or whether I would even bother.

Does Hallmark have a greeting card line for “Sorry I’ve unfriended you on Facebook. I’m sure you’re a great person but our pixels just don’t really connect anymore.”?
jazzyvandal on February 18 at 2:22 p.m.
No, they don’t get an alert. If they pay attention to how many friends they have, and the next day the number is lower, then they might investigate.

I’ve deleted friends, but it was because we were mere acquaintances and didn’t talk much.
Transplanted_Texan on February 18 at 2:32 p.m.
My Facebook profile reflects who I am, and I am a very political person. I am sensitive to my conservative friends and try not to post too many political status updates, but I do use the political applications and I do have my blog set to automatically copy into Facebook notes, and it’s going to stay that way. Anything else would not be a truly personal profile for me.
Arch_Druid on February 18 at 6:35 p.m.
I won’t unfriend you Toadman, we did vote for the same man.
Escapee on February 18 at 7:31 p.m.
Facebook or Myspace do nothing for me. they’re just another, more complicated way of exchanging messages…and I’ve got e-mail for that purpose. Why do I need to get ‘some’ messages on e-mail, and then get ‘some other’ messages on the other sides? Answer: “I don’t.”
Escapee on February 18 at 7:34 p.m.
Even with the ‘preview’ button, I managed to destroy what I was trying to say…In short, what I meant was, “if I’ve already got Yahoo E-mail for messages, why do I need to go to those other SITES? Answer: I don’t”. So there ya go.
Transplanted_Texan on February 18 at 7:40 p.m.
Escapee… my favorite thing about Facebook isn’t the message feature, but the ability to instantly share photos with everyone who’s in them (“tagging”), and the personal bulletin boards (“status updates”). The messages can be handy, though, if you know a person’s name but not their e-mail address - you can find their profile with a name search and then click “send message” and never have to remember if that e-mail was abc123 or abc321.

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About this blog

D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.