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People that write a lot of ranty political posts will collect:
a) people that already agree with them
b) people that feel equally strongly towards the opposing viewpoint
c) upset and/or annoyed but silent friends
With a, you're preaching to the choir. Not really accomplishing anything, and possibly becoming more narrow-minded as everybody agrees.
With b, neither of you are going to change each other's minds in a Facebook debate, and you might end up disliking each other. Basically you're wasting time and/or damaging a relationship.
With c, you're alienating people that otherwise had good feelings about you by coming across as an angry, obsessive person.
I think there is a hysteria in our country right now. A lot of it is based in fear. For my own sanity, though, I had to unplug more than once and I haven't watched the news in over a week, I think. I want to know if there is any actual action I can take to make any kind of difference - I did march with the students for the March for Our Lives, for instance - and I made sure to vote. But, I realized that there are plenty of really intelligent, tenacious, capable people out there who will advocate for others, so it doesn't have to be me. And just keeping up to date on the news every day wasn't going to change the world, but it was definitely changing me for the worse, just in worry and fear and the constant chaos.
So, for my own sanity, I have to unplug. I don't do facebook, but I will occasionally check into Twitter, but rarely. Social media keeps people from living real life, in my opinion. Turn off the devices and listen to the birds once in a while.
But, OP, yes, I understand what you're saying. But, I think it's based on fear and I do think there are people out there who want us to live in fear and chaos, and feed hysteria into the social media platforms. All you can do is unplug for your own sanity, maybe be a calming influence for your friends, but take care of yourself first.
I don't do facebook. Only was on it for a month after a overseas trip nine years ago to keep in contact with someone I met then dropped it altogether. Not worth it.
Let former Facebook CEO Chamath Palihapitiya explain.
It's hard to know where to post this one: N-R Relationships, Internet, Philosophy, Current Events, but these people, many of them my Facebook friends, who post almost nothing else on Facebook but political rants. Long, angry, repetitive political rants. Day after day after day... That can't be healthy! And what do they think they're accomplishing? It's not something I care to read constantly. Anyone else find it disturbing? Or at least obsessive???
When you say "rant," are you talking ill-informed, pointless shouting?
Or are you talking about people posting thoughtful, impassioned opinions on current events, displaying a grasp of factual information that they legitimately pay attention to and can discuss in a civil, rational manner?
Because if it's the former, yeah, that's tiresome. If it's the latter, no, that doesn't bother me at all. But paying attention to what is going on in the upper tiers of our government is important to me.
It's hard to know where to post this one: N-R Relationships, Internet, Philosophy, Current Events, but these people, many of them my Facebook friends, who post almost nothing else on Facebook but political rants. Long, angry, repetitive political rants. Day after day after day... That can't be healthy! And what do they think they're accomplishing? It's not something I care to read constantly. Anyone else find it disturbing? Or at least obsessive???
I hear you.
It has gotten to the point where I go to FB to issue my birthday greetings, see if there is anything else I need to know, then turn away.
I want to read about my friends in belly dancing, theater, working on a farm, and the like.......not what they think about the President or what is in the news.
People say, "Well, just scroll past" but it is not that easy for what is seen even in a glance is then processed in the mind. So to avoid that, I turn away from FB entirely.
As far as what they think they might be accomplishing, I would guess that if their words can change at least one person's mind, then there was success.
As to why do it on Facebook? Well, that's the Net for one where if it is accessible and if it is free, where is the impulse to stop one from using it as their own soapbox?
Quote:
Originally Posted by otterhere
... Have they nothing else in their lives, or is everything else in life considered "trivial" now compared to this endless drum beat? Are they told to do this (that it will further the cause)? That and continually sharing obviously biased "news" reports from clearly bogus sites. The repetition is just relentless....
Well, this might get into the whole balliwick of Net Addiction......such as what we see here on city-data where with a hot topic, there are pages of one line responses that are minutes apart in postings. Don't people have lives off the Net?
Unfortunately, I've been there where posting on the Net is more fun than being off the Net, so one can get wrapped up in it, one way or another.
As it now for me, however, satellite internet has done wonders for my addiction. Since I only have 5 Gigs of download a month, it behooves me to stay off the Net at home. That is not easy to do, mind you, especially when our lives seem so involved in the technology in flood that the Net provides us.....but I am managing.
One other thing that might contribute to all the political posting, IMHO, is the 24 hour cable news, especially that part of it which is more of a news show than actually news. If one is being fed this stuff, then there might be a need to express it somewhere....IMHO.
Last edited by TamaraSavannah; 06-20-2018 at 04:22 AM..
Strong political opinion has always been around, but rabble-rousers had to interact only face to face or via letters to editors, which could be edited or ignored. That kept most of them out of the mainstream and the parlors of most houses. Radio changed that; slowly at first because of a strong FCC and the fear of broadcasters creating unrest, and because the religious leaders were having none of it.
Talk radio, and hosts that screamed extremist views and got adrenaline pumping broke the barriers. When the internet came along and people could imitate those idiots and have "righteous outrage" that offered a comradeship against common enemies, akin to the old lynch mobs, they fell for it. The emotional high is addictive, and it doesn't require much more than parroting some "authority" with confluent views.
There are fears and the grief of loss of a supposedly simpler and more rational way of life that get entangled with the rhetoric. Patriotism and a false claim to religious principles add to the inflation and feeling of noble cause for some, for others the railing against outrages to humanity, animals, and the environment spur the dump of addictive neuro-chemicals.
In a few cases, where a rant is fixed and oft-repeated, I think there may be a form of seizure disorder that is triggered.
There are interventions, but they are not to be taken lightly.
I would listen to talk radio KGB and occasionally someone would get on the air and just rant. Usually the host would give him some time, then try to respond. If the host couldn't respond after a couple of tries, he/she just cut them off.
But it's amazing how many people follow the same pattern of ranting.
I'm familiar with it from trying to talk with my brother. He'd start on a rant (immigrants, Obama, welfare - pick your poison) and it would just go on and on and on. I'd try and get a word in edgewise, but then finally give up. I actually hung up on him twice.
We're not talking about people who just have strong opinions. We're talking dedicated ranters who will rave for ten minutes straight without drawing a breath and just talk over anyone who tries to respond. I suspect a lot of people rant this way on a forum because they've run out of people who will put up with listening to them in person.
Right; it's certainly not limited to JUST Facebok (I didn't mean to imply that). I can't go anywhere, it seems, without being ranted at, and most people don't even bother to inquire -- or consider -- whether or not I might agree; they just seem to take it for granted that I do or don't care if I don't. Either way, I don't care to talk politics 24/7 and certainly not when I'm trying to enjoy some lighthearted fun in person or online.
Everyone's also lost his or her sense of humor, it seems!
In defense of political ranters of all persuasions...most other things are trivial by comparison.
Agree to disagree, although I realize this is the (self-righteous) justification of the ranters for their behavior. They just CARE so much more than the rest of us because they're better people. Another clue to the psychology at work here?
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Another clue to the psychology at work here?
