Dear Blog,
Tonight, I was casually scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed just minding my own business (aka: creeping and tagging my boyfriend on memes) when all of a sudden I come across a juicy political rant that a friend of mine (Facebook friends, but more or less acquaintances thanks to time and distance) has commented on that has gone up to 100+ comments.
Source: Ben’s shares.
Done! I found my late night reading material.
To make a long story short, this guy, who’s post my friend commented on, is upset that American athletes are kneeling during the national anthem and that they would disgrace the freedom that he and other military service men and women fought for. My friend’s boyfriend started the comment rant defending the athletes saying its not the flag they’re disrespecting, rather that they’re protesting police brutality by kneeling during the anthem. This turns into a match of who can call who a more insulting name, the original poster gets his family involved, and then my friend gets involved. Thus, this back and forth of name calling, sexuality shaming, and “tagging for backup” goes on for 100+ comments.
My general rule of thumb is I try not to (there have been times in the past where I have slipped and spilled the beans, so it would be wrong of me to say “never”) share my political association and party alignment on social media, and for many reasons. One, it’s my choice that I have the right to keep private. Two, it could change and already has changed due to my experiences, my surrounding environment, and my own personal growth. Three, are political rant debaters really doing any service to their political party and the opinions of those that align with them through name calling? No, not in my opinion.
Don’t get me wrong, I love politics and I love to debate politics, but how can two people, on opposing sides, get anywhere if it ends up being a battle of bad names we can call each other? You want to debate? Let’s meet up for coffee and heatedly discuss our similarities and differences one-on-one, not on social media where everyone feels like they have to peacock or one-up each other.
Source: WiffleGif.
Maybe it’s the teacher in me, but one thing I stressed in my classroom was the use of appropriate sentence frames. When we would have a classroom discussion, I would encourage students to respond to their peer’s thoughts, ideas, and opinions with “I agree with [student] because…” or “I disagree with [student] because…” This helped students (even the quietest ones) to feel comfortable participating in classroom discussions because they knew their opinions were being heard and were respected, even if other students didn’t necessarily agree with them, and all while eliminating name calling!
I guess all I want to say, after reading all 100+ comments on that one post, is: I love that this country allows people to say, believe, and do what they want, but name calling isn’t going to help your cause as much as it’s going to fuel your opposition. That’s the end of my rant about another rant. Good night, Internet.
Love,
Liz
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