The 2008 election and this election are exciting for me. For most of my life, the candidates on either side were plain vanilla, which explains why the independents did so well in those years. Finally, the candidates can be differentiated from each other. People are voting for candidates rather than against them. And it's exciting.
The downside of this is its effect on social media. Facebook has been a war zone with supporters of both sides attacking and getting attacked for their viewpoints. However, my Facebook page is pretty peaceful. It's peaceful because of a decision I made early in my social media experience.
I have many friends who have views that are opposite of my views, and I commented negatively on one of their posts. My friend promptly deleted my comments, and life went on. She didn't unfriend me or even say anything about my opinion. I realized I like these people for reasons other than their politics, and I'm not willing to unfriend them. (Needless to say I would never be able to succeed in running for office because I have too many friends whose politics are different than mine and there would be a firestorm of controversy.)
I solved my social media dilemma by resolving never to post negatively on anyone's political post--ever. If I don't agree with a post, I just scroll past it. If someone comments negatively on one of my posts, I ignore it. I do this because the odds of me changing their view is as miniscule as their odds of changing mine. People make choices based on their personal circumstances, so who am I to suggests that their beliefs aren't as valid as mine.
My point is that it's not necessary to create a war zone in social media land. It's not necessary to go through massive unfriending, hurt feelings, or any drama whatsoever. I believe in a free country, and I give my friends the same freedom I embrace for myself.
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