Should I Go or Should I Stay?
Such a pickle.
I joined Twitter when I had to get IV bags of arsenic every day for my leukemia. It seemed a good idea.
In retrospect, it wasn't. I learned a lot about what was going on in the world, did lots of research on topics that interested me. That was the upside. The downside was that I would read comments. I was floored by the amount of ignorance displayed by people. And this was magnified because they were incognito and didn't have to worry, I suppose, about people looking at them as if they were monsters.
I used to know that there were losers and really stupid people in life. I had had the misfortune of meeting some of them, even having them in my daily life. Yet, I always thought that the winners and the smart people outnumbered them.
I began to realize that they do not. There are a shocking amount of people who only get their news from FOX news and are just fine with that, thank you very much. In fact, I have had it said outside of twitter and to my face a few unfortunate times and noted that they spoke with genuine pride about this fact. Like saying that you hadn't read any books outside of Harlequin romances and thinking that this made you literature savvy. The few times this happened, I chalked it up to the person's latent racist tendencies or overzealous religious nature.
But seeing it running rampant on Twitter dismayed me. I started thinking that if I could only get them to listen to reason, they might come over to the light. I tried this.
I can see you chuckling.
To say that this was a huge disaster is to put it lightly. When I saw one person proudly proclaim that Donald Trump was Jesus Christ's handpicked man about town, I cautiously sent a response asking if a thrice married man who had admittedly cheated on all three of his wives (including his current one....who had easily accessible porn photos of herself naked save for nipple covers, with her tongue hanging out of her mouth and licking a whip), had a "university" that had to be shut down for fraudulence and a "charitable organization" where he had "borrowed" over a million dollars from to have pictures of himself painted, was really set up to be on Jesus' role model list.
I was bombarded with responses, most profane at worst and rude at best. One woman who proclaimed on her profile to love Jesus more than anything in the world advised me to start planning my funeral, "you cancer smeared bitch." Another just sent GIF after GIF with Trump smiling his lizardly grin and saying how he loved winning. Another proclaimed to own me as he did all left wing libs.
There was not going to be any intelligent discourse there. This was obvious. And I think I was wrong to go in with such strong words. Perhaps I should have said something more akin to, "Hey, you smart people! I would like to hear how you can justify this man being holy?"
I think even that would have failed mightily. I learned my lesson and avoided these people if I could. But, it has been difficult because they are ALL OVER THE PLACE. It is as if Trump has given permission to all unsavory types to come flying out of the basements.
And then I let my sister talk me into joining Facebook. This has been a bit easier. But, frankly...I find Facebook sort of.....boring. As I have said before, it is kind of like reading one cheery Christmas letter after another except they are condensed. And to my dismay, I started joining in. I even put up photos of plates of food that my wife and I were enjoying and I SWORE I would NEVER stoop to that level.
But, I did.
Facebook also had the problem of the like emoji. I would go to other's sites and see that nearly everyone in my family had liked some announcement of a baby's first step or a first communion photo. I felt like a Scrooge not liking, too. It made me look curmudgeonly, I worried.
And some good came out of Facebook. I reconnected with a cousin that I was close to in childhood, but had lost over the years. A friend from 6th grade found me and we actually met for coffee when she came to my city with her daughter. I found out that a few of my relatives that I had not really known well...were really, really droll and funny. I truly enjoyed reading some of the acerbic bits by C. His edgy intelligence delighted me.
But, there is always a downside. I found out that someone close to me was not just a Trumper (I had known this), but a goose stepping one who posted Russian propaganda on a regular basis. I was astounded at the ignorance. I had always thought this person to be rather intelligent. Now, I was confused. Research was easy to do. Were these articles reprinted out of laziness or ignorance? Both? I really wasn't all that offended by dissenting opinions as long as they didn't splotch them on family member's pages, they could believe what they wanted. But, a dissenting opinion that showed no research to check for truth? That truly saddened me.
I stopped going on Twitter or Facebook for days at a time. It was just too depressing. Yet, I enjoyed parts of both.
So, I thought about it carefully. Why not just keep them up but only visit every few weeks? That way, I could still stay in touch with my new found treasures but avoid the more boring and upsetting aspects of it.
I am lucky in that Lucy rarely uses Twitter or Facebook. She writes me letters. Yes. Written tomes. I am so overjoyed by this that I can hardly put it into words. I have scores of letters in my memento box from her. They seem oddly old fashioned, but so beautiful to me. She writes of her love of living in her new house, her first. Of how she never tires of going to the beach with her friends.
"I never take the beach for granted, probably because I was raised in a landlocked state!"
She writes of her love for me, which somehow means more to me as words on an off white sheet of paper than it would in a text or a post.
"I think you'd be surprised at how often I think of you. Daily, at the very least. And your lessons and love stay with me. I carry you with me everywhere and always will."
T reads her letters and takes my hand.
"My god, she sounds just like you on paper. She writes so much like you do. I see you all over her."
So, I don't really need Twitter or Facebook. I suppose that I could delete them both and just send out letters to those that I would miss. But, I suspect that I would lose them all over again. Most of us are not as inclined to letter writing as Lucy and I are. And I would hate to lose my newfound treasures.
So, okay. I will keep both.
But. And this is a rather large but.
I will spare it down to an occasional look rather than a daily necessity.
There. That works.
I joined Twitter when I had to get IV bags of arsenic every day for my leukemia. It seemed a good idea.
In retrospect, it wasn't. I learned a lot about what was going on in the world, did lots of research on topics that interested me. That was the upside. The downside was that I would read comments. I was floored by the amount of ignorance displayed by people. And this was magnified because they were incognito and didn't have to worry, I suppose, about people looking at them as if they were monsters.
I used to know that there were losers and really stupid people in life. I had had the misfortune of meeting some of them, even having them in my daily life. Yet, I always thought that the winners and the smart people outnumbered them.
I began to realize that they do not. There are a shocking amount of people who only get their news from FOX news and are just fine with that, thank you very much. In fact, I have had it said outside of twitter and to my face a few unfortunate times and noted that they spoke with genuine pride about this fact. Like saying that you hadn't read any books outside of Harlequin romances and thinking that this made you literature savvy. The few times this happened, I chalked it up to the person's latent racist tendencies or overzealous religious nature.
But seeing it running rampant on Twitter dismayed me. I started thinking that if I could only get them to listen to reason, they might come over to the light. I tried this.
I can see you chuckling.
To say that this was a huge disaster is to put it lightly. When I saw one person proudly proclaim that Donald Trump was Jesus Christ's handpicked man about town, I cautiously sent a response asking if a thrice married man who had admittedly cheated on all three of his wives (including his current one....who had easily accessible porn photos of herself naked save for nipple covers, with her tongue hanging out of her mouth and licking a whip), had a "university" that had to be shut down for fraudulence and a "charitable organization" where he had "borrowed" over a million dollars from to have pictures of himself painted, was really set up to be on Jesus' role model list.
I was bombarded with responses, most profane at worst and rude at best. One woman who proclaimed on her profile to love Jesus more than anything in the world advised me to start planning my funeral, "you cancer smeared bitch." Another just sent GIF after GIF with Trump smiling his lizardly grin and saying how he loved winning. Another proclaimed to own me as he did all left wing libs.
There was not going to be any intelligent discourse there. This was obvious. And I think I was wrong to go in with such strong words. Perhaps I should have said something more akin to, "Hey, you smart people! I would like to hear how you can justify this man being holy?"
I think even that would have failed mightily. I learned my lesson and avoided these people if I could. But, it has been difficult because they are ALL OVER THE PLACE. It is as if Trump has given permission to all unsavory types to come flying out of the basements.
And then I let my sister talk me into joining Facebook. This has been a bit easier. But, frankly...I find Facebook sort of.....boring. As I have said before, it is kind of like reading one cheery Christmas letter after another except they are condensed. And to my dismay, I started joining in. I even put up photos of plates of food that my wife and I were enjoying and I SWORE I would NEVER stoop to that level.
But, I did.
Facebook also had the problem of the like emoji. I would go to other's sites and see that nearly everyone in my family had liked some announcement of a baby's first step or a first communion photo. I felt like a Scrooge not liking, too. It made me look curmudgeonly, I worried.
And some good came out of Facebook. I reconnected with a cousin that I was close to in childhood, but had lost over the years. A friend from 6th grade found me and we actually met for coffee when she came to my city with her daughter. I found out that a few of my relatives that I had not really known well...were really, really droll and funny. I truly enjoyed reading some of the acerbic bits by C. His edgy intelligence delighted me.
But, there is always a downside. I found out that someone close to me was not just a Trumper (I had known this), but a goose stepping one who posted Russian propaganda on a regular basis. I was astounded at the ignorance. I had always thought this person to be rather intelligent. Now, I was confused. Research was easy to do. Were these articles reprinted out of laziness or ignorance? Both? I really wasn't all that offended by dissenting opinions as long as they didn't splotch them on family member's pages, they could believe what they wanted. But, a dissenting opinion that showed no research to check for truth? That truly saddened me.
I stopped going on Twitter or Facebook for days at a time. It was just too depressing. Yet, I enjoyed parts of both.
So, I thought about it carefully. Why not just keep them up but only visit every few weeks? That way, I could still stay in touch with my new found treasures but avoid the more boring and upsetting aspects of it.
I am lucky in that Lucy rarely uses Twitter or Facebook. She writes me letters. Yes. Written tomes. I am so overjoyed by this that I can hardly put it into words. I have scores of letters in my memento box from her. They seem oddly old fashioned, but so beautiful to me. She writes of her love of living in her new house, her first. Of how she never tires of going to the beach with her friends.
"I never take the beach for granted, probably because I was raised in a landlocked state!"
She writes of her love for me, which somehow means more to me as words on an off white sheet of paper than it would in a text or a post.
"I think you'd be surprised at how often I think of you. Daily, at the very least. And your lessons and love stay with me. I carry you with me everywhere and always will."
T reads her letters and takes my hand.
"My god, she sounds just like you on paper. She writes so much like you do. I see you all over her."
So, I don't really need Twitter or Facebook. I suppose that I could delete them both and just send out letters to those that I would miss. But, I suspect that I would lose them all over again. Most of us are not as inclined to letter writing as Lucy and I are. And I would hate to lose my newfound treasures.
So, okay. I will keep both.
But. And this is a rather large but.
I will spare it down to an occasional look rather than a daily necessity.
There. That works.
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