Managing Political Posts on Social Media

One year from today – November 3, 2020 - is election day. Unfortunately, it promises to be the most vile, disgusting and hate-filled campaign ever. And it will come from all sides, not just one. I know many of you will have your side, which is fine. What is not fine is the amount of disgusting and misleading political posts that will fill each of our timelines. What I have done is come up with a set of rules to help me digest it all and help me keep my sanity. Some of you might find these helpful. Some of you will just skip over all the political posts, which is fine, too. I am just trying to weed out the crap and find a few nuggets of thoughtful writing. Here are my rules to help me manage it all over the next year:

1.       1. Your meme’s will not change my mind. The vast majority of political meme’s contain distortions, half-truths and outright lies. They are intentionally designed to mislead the reader. They may have some entertainment value, but as purveyors of truth and enlightenment – absolutely not.

2.      2.  If you put out a link to an article without any comment, I will not read it. If you put out there a comment like “This is a must read for everyone” or “Supporters of X candidate need to read this and discover the truth,” I will not read it. If you put out a thoughtful few sentences about the article, I might read it. Show me that you at least read the article. At the very least, I will be intrigued. 

3.     3.  I do not trust any media sources. Just telling me that some article is from a “respected news source” will get nowhere with me. I do not think any of them are "respected" at this point.

4.    4.   In this area, I greatly admire independent thought and original thinking. One of the best ways I can think of to display independent thinking is by showing me, and all your readers, where you DISAGREE with your party/candidate of choice. And disagreeing with the outfit choice or the dinner choice at last night’s fundraiser doesn’t count. It has to a disagreement about a significant policy position. Show me where you disagree with your preferred party and you will have my attention and my respect. If you agree with every single position of your preferred party, you simply come off as a lemming to me. Disagreement with your party is not the only way to show original thinking, but it is one way that will get my attention. This is not the only way to show independent and original thinking, but it is a substantial way.

5.     5.  If you view the “other” political party as the sole source of all the country’s problems, and “your” party as not any part of the problem, and their platform as the only available “solutions” to all said problems, then I will see you as merely part of the problem, not any part of the solution.