Mean People on Social Media

Here we go again. Somehow once more I find myself embroiled in a debate on Facebook. It got too angry. So I blocked the person who referred to me as either "dimwitted" or a "liar" because I did not see things his way. When I pointed out to him he was being abusive and very mean-spirited, he copped out by resorting to what most bullies do, blame the victim and insult them some more.

Who are these people? I have a feeling I know. They are the ones who are so socially dysfunctional in real life that their "friends" are the made up ones on Facebook and other social media sites. This is the guy at work who hides in his cubicle, never having an opinion on anything, never offering any suggestions or being part of the team but get him behind his laptop or iphone and he's a real confident, genius on twitter.

It's not just twitter or FB where I have encountered these nasty, unreasonable creeps either. Right here on hubpages, I have had a few disagreeable people. One of my hubs details the issues I had with my mortgage lender, the hard fought battle and the final foreclosure and sale of my home. My hub was heart-felt and very real. Some nasty soul (soul-less?) guy decided to post some ugly things in which he stated emphatically that I was a cheat, a liar and probable felon. Excuse me? Do we know each other? I am always amazed how someone can go gang busters with an immediate attack when we have never had any previous interaction! At least on hubpages I can approve or not approve their post. I usually approve because I think an irrational, angry post shows the person as a fool.

Seems to me even with hubpages, twitter and facebook having posted rules, no one follows them. We must learn self-restraint and develop our own code of behavior. This can only benefit us all especially in these days where future employers or college admissions people are checking our "status" online for our online reputations.

Here and now, I promise:

• No more getting baited into any political discussions. I promise to keep my affiliations to any political party a secret.
• No more discussions about religion or my lack of believing in any organized religion.
• No more bashing people of the other gender. No funny posts referring to dumb husbands or incompetent government staff workers.
• No more re-posting or "sharing" of stories having to do with pot smoking grannies, cute animals, tragedies involving soldiers coming back from war.

I am sure this list could be much longer, but it just dawned on me that promising to do all of these things is really promising to give up my constitutional rights or at the very least watering down of who I am and what I think. Maybe I will just swear off Facebook for a week or better yet, I choose to simply unfriend all those alleged "friends" whose negativity, narrow-mindedness, refusal to accept differing opinions were weighing me down. I may not have the 500+ friends, but who cares? I am old enough to not care and do not let the number of phony "friends" I have on FB define me. When I went through my list of so-called "friends" I was shocked to see people I have never spoke to or had any exchange, not so much as "thumbs Up" to any of my cute photos or sayings. Whatever....I am over it.

Peace to you all whether you agree with me or not.