Facebook and Politics

Open Letter:

If you are my friend, we are going to end up talking about politics. This is not something that can be said any other way, realistically. If we don't talk about politics, you aren't actually my friend in the same way that if you had a kid and never talked about it you wouldn't be my friend. If you spent a lot of time looking at X thing, reading about it, keeping abreast of it, thinking about it and you never talked about it to me I would probably assume that I am not your friend. Doesn't matter if that thing is porn or religion, I would assume you weren't my friend.

This is because if I consider you to be a "friend" that would mean at the very least that I care about you, so I care about the things that make you excited. I don't care about baseball in the slightest- I can still tell you how that the Cubs are currently in a 7 game losing streak. I don't care about Aflac insurance in the least but I can still tell you that it was originally set up to be supplementary cancer insurance.

If I am not your friend, we can still be colleagues, coworkers, acquaintances, mutual club-goers, and family. We can not talk about this aspect of my life and we can not know each other at all, but the weather will sure be exhausted (provided we don't mention climate change). Happy Birthday's can be wished, congratulations will be given, and condolences will be offered. But you aren't my friend- you're some person I know (and not that well) and all of our interaction will be superficial.

So, if you're mad that I talk about politics, unfriend me, or block me. But don't pretend we have a relationship we don't.