Idaho Speaks

“The Coffee Party”.   From their Facebook page -   We recognize that the federal gov’t is not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will…As voters & volunteers, we will support leaders who work toward positive solutions, & hold accountable those who obstruct them.   - beats the snot out of obtusely fighting AGAINST oneself, like the Teabaggers do.  (Does anybody else inadvertantly spell it “Teagagger” then have to go back and fix it?…or it is just me?)   And remember to remind your Teabagger (I did it again) friends that unless they make enough to buy their own island, they just got a tax cut under Obama’s rein.  (The mainstream “news” isn’t advertising this too damned much…gee I wonder why.)  Let’s do what we can to educate the Teabaggers with actual facts, shall we? . Join on Facebook - .  Thanks for alerting me to the existence of this site, Darlene.

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Tags: Coffee Party Movement, facebook, teabaggers, Teagaggers

So I haven’t written in quite some time, or spent time on this forum.  I’ve spent my time on Facebook.  It’s an empire, it is.  You build a network of family and friends and it makes communication with them so much easier than conventional communication.

However, there becomes the conundrum of unknown or semi-known peoples, who friend you, and vice versa.  At first it seems harmless because other ideas are thrown out there, and that’s not a bad thing.  I don’t want an echo chamber of my own ideas, I do want to hear opposing opinions and other viewpoints, they help me either solidify my own thoughts or maybe take them down a different pathway.

But I have this thing, where I call it as I see it and that includes when some of my conservative “friends” go off the deep end.  And they in turn have this problem with being called on their dogma, being shown the racism inherent in their Tiger Woods jokes, and having their “news” sources being called into question.  Instead of ever admitting they might have been wrong, they instead employ a number of tricks that call into question their sincerity in being my friend at all.

I’ve been advised by Jim Sathe (I point to his advice time after time, so when do you think I’ll actually take it?) that it’s not worth tangling with these people, life is too precious and short and our time is better spent on those who are not closed minded, who are willing to meet in the middle at times even as they swing opposite at others.  In order to do that, I would need to unfriend a few people who are giving me fits.

That feels as if I’m telling them their opinion has no validity, that I don’t want to know their opinion, or at the very least, that I have no valid counterpoint to their opinion.  Ach!  What’s really happening is that I’m tired of trying to open their closed minds, and it’s one more attempt in a series of windmill jousts that I need to give up for Lent, or something like that.

So I’m thinking, it’s time to take the advice of Obi Wan Jim Sathe and dump them.  I have more important things to do than allow myself to continue to read and respond to their insidious poison.  I definitely UNLIKE them, and as soon as I find a nice way to express that, I’m going to reduce my list of friends by a few.

Tags: facebook, unlike feature

Eh.  Facebook “friend” (very conservative, I don’t know her except on facebook) offered to stop listening to Rush Limbaugh if I stopped listening to Rachel Maddow.  Now, what she doesn’t know is that I only listen/watch when I’m in a hotel room while out of town, as I don’t have cable at home…and therefore rarely get to see/hear Rachel.

But I was tempted to agree to stop listening to Rachel, if she would be willing to stop listening to Rush.  I’d take one for the team, there!  Wonder if I should take her up on it?? 

Tags: facebook, Rachel Maddow, Rush Limbaugh

I have just under 100 friends, and I’ve decided, that’s too damn many to keep up with.  There are only a few that I regularly follow, anyway…so why bother with all the extra?

It’s very interesting, the things that I learn, that’s why.  The politicians keep their information running.  The newsmedia people range from serious cross-posts (Richert and Stapilus) to plaintive tweets (Gagnon) to intriguing photographs and occasional liberal mentalpeeks (Plothow).  There was the woman who had the cool name who went psycho on someone and posted the most acrid diatribe I had read in years.  Then she was all sweet again.  For a moment.  You KNOW I’ll be sure to stay away from her page for awhile.

I found out about the Idaho Falls PETA human BBQ demonstration, and the Boise PRIDE days, and today’s 5k run.  (Yeah, like I’m gonna be at any of them…but I know about them!)

It’s a totally voyeuristic (and exhibitionist) venture, and I’m glad to be there (so far).   It’s like a personal Reader’s Digest Condensed Book of information from many people that I (mostly) know.

Tags: facebook, internet blogging

On the Unbearable Bobness of Being (TUBOB) he has lamented that his site traffic is down tremendously and he wonders if it’s even worth the effort to entertain, if no one will read it because they’re all on faceBook these days.   He’s such an entertaining read, I love his site.  This one’s called “Facebook Killed the Blogging Star”.   

I totally understand his situation.  It’s incredible how easy facebook is, I’ve been on there 2 weeks now and it’s a wealth of ideas to be explored.  I don’t need to be an advertisement for it, you’re either ready to join or you’re not.  I never never planned to be on there but I was convinced by listening to two people I admire very much (both men, both reasonably close to me in age) who were singing its praises. 

But I like blogging, too.  I like telling my story in more than a sentence or two.  I like reading other people’s stories, and I enjoy the voyeurism aspect of knowing what’s on someone’s mind, or happening in their life, without actually having to invite them to dinner or exchange christmas cards with them, etc.

So for awhile at least, I’ll still pay attention to the bloggers.  I probably will continue to participate in facebook, too.

Tags: blogging, facebook