Facebook...friend or foe?

I have been debating for a long time what to do about Facebook.

• I don't post a lot any more.
• I don't like "fake" friendships.  
• If someone is really curious about me they should ask, meet up with me or find a way other than Facebook to see what I'm doing.  
• I don't even put my birthday out there because I don't like the birthday wishes.  If you truly know me, you know when my birthday is.  (I know, it's odd but that is how I have always thought)

This goes both ways though, right?!  If I am truly interested in a friendship I should do the same thing.  Maybe Facebook is just teaching our society that we don't need genuine relationships any more.  Online friendships are where it is all at.  People meet doing online dating now instead of in person...Facebook, in reality, is really just taking up the same spot with actual friendships.
"Oh, I should see how _____ is doing."  Look at Facebook page.  "Those are great pictures!  What a funny status."  A "like" here, a comment here...all caught up for today.  No actual personal or physical meeting takes place.  As long as you don't click "unfriend" or Block then the relationship is still great.

and then...
the wonderful and oh so friendly political posts (there was major sarcasm in that...hope you can read through the plain type).

I am not going to get into the "who's wrong" and "who's right" type of discussion.  Frankly, I don't care who is going to win the election at the moment.  No one has my vote so far.  Unfortunately I think that a lot of people, especially those that are younger than me, feel the same way.  Why?  Because people are posting and saying things that just aren't true, on both sides, and that is just GARBAGE!  What is posted about one candidate may or may not be true.  Doesn't matter though because the next thing out there will just say something against the other person that may or may not be true.  For goodness sakes, the politicians are on camera for the American public to view first hand and they don't even tell the truth.  Can you really put all the blame on the actual person running for election or should some blame go to the person giving them the "facts" to report?  We all know that this isn't just a one man show.  There is an entire army of people working to get that Presidential spot for their side.

Why should I believe what anyone says in politics when they can't even present themselves with the facts (not the fake facts, the real facts).  I would rather have a fact checker just buzz them when something false is said.  Actually, that may be a funny reality show.  (I get the rights to that if we do have a political reality show like that.)

What do you do though about the average Joe who is just finding a picture that they think is important that has a cute or what seems to be "appropriate and honest" statement and post it in their status?  At the moment there are lots and lots of cute little photos being posted by the different parties or people supporting specific parties (not taking sides...they are all doing it).  Most of the time I just block that person because if their values are similar to what they are posting about other races, demographics or income levels, then we don't have much in common.

There was a quote out there that was posted and "liked" by a lot of people that stated, "So that's why I work so many hours, so you can collect welfare, wear pajamas in public and have an iPhone."  (there are versions with other things too...Coach purses, certain brands of clothes, etc.)

Why did this one irritate me?  The people that I know who posted and "liked" this go to our church.  We had church staff comment on this post in a positive way.  The same church also works with a group of teens that...(cough, cough) some collect welfare, some wear their pajamas to our group and some have phones.  Not sure if they are iPhones but they have phones.  I know their stories, not all of them, but some of their stories.  Pretty sure all of the people that posted and "liked" that picture don't know a single name of those girls or their personal stories.  Do they know how they got that phone?  Do they know if the girl just worked all night, up with their kid off and on and did homework at the same time during the day and that their only time out was to the store and then Teen MOPS?  Pj's are comfy people.  If I had the life of some of those girls I would be wearing pj's any time that I want.  Until you personally know someone in a situation like that I strongly suggest you NOT to post something like that.  This comment irritates me because our church is very missions focused.  They state it all the time...missions, missions, missions.  I see the people that commented and "liked" this quote at the missions events and as I stated before, some also work there.  I'm pretty sure that the Teen MOPS group in our church is a pretty good mission field to start with.  Might be time to be a little bit more open with our hearts and minds and watch our words when the people you just talked about in that quote are in your church looking for help.  I didn't just save my words for my blog either, I wrote my feelings out there on that picture.  But, because of politics, the religion aspect was put aside and turned right back to who should be helped, given money or food and who shouldn't.  Seriously?!?  This is our world.

Some days I just have enough of all the crap out there, especially on Facebook.  Today just happened to be one of those days.

I understand that the election is just months away.  But, some of the comments being posted are really offensive to people in general and others are just downright rude and in no way can the average person know that what is being said is the truth or the real reason for what is going on.  We don't have FBI clearance. We don't know security information or risks for certain meetings or what is going behind the scenes in the White House or on the political campaign trail at all.  Wasn't it the last political campaign for President that someone had a baby behind the scenes that wasn't with his wife?  Did we know about that then or after the campaign was over?  See...we, the average American, don't get all the information.  If we didn't know about that baby then we probably don't know why the President didn't meet up with the Prime Minister in Israel rather than go on Letterman.  If I did the marketing for the other party this would be such a great way to show how the President wasn't doing America justice.  A little blurb here, a cute photo with a caption posted there...Bam...next way for American to spread whatever they think might be the right thing all over the social media.  And, sadly, it works.

Americans don't like all the lies or political scandal that happens.  Well, unfortunately, we are just doing the job for the politicians and are posting it out there for the entire world to see.  The marketing guru's for each party are laughing...and will be until November.

Facebook and I are done for now...I've changed some settings and getting rid of the things that irritate me.   For me, I am just not going to listen any longer to what is negative.  I don't need that.