Monday, August 23, 2010

It's a question of civility...

Ok... today I feel as if I have a black flag of my own to hoist.  Will it be as deliciously profane as the dread pirate Gabriel?  Probably not, but still...

So... Facebook.  We all know it, right?  It's a public forum.  Ok, I get that.  It's a place where we can express our opinions and share information.  Play attention to people's posts and you might learn something about them.

Now today I am feeling as if I need to talk about this idea, the public forum.  Yes, it is public. When we express our thoughts and opinions on a forum such as Facebook we allow others to see what we feel and think.  I think that's great.  If you control who you allow as your friends and keep your profile open only to people you know, then you can allow those close to you to get to know you all the better. 

So, this leads to my issue.  Some people complain consistently about how much information people disclose upon Facebook.  Why the fuck they choose to complain about what another person writes I'll never know.  Personally I don't really care.  They can truly complain all they want, except it would be better if they kept their complaints out of this public forum. (explanation later) Earlier in the day I was reading someone's posting for their work Facebook page and I noticed that a sibling of that person had made a remark in supposed humor about that person which was in fact a blatant insult poorly disguised as a joke.  Very poorly.  So I called them on it. 

Now I understand that there are times when siblings will give each other crap about things, but this joke, though attempting to look innocuous enough, took it too far, especially because it was on the person's professional page instead of their personal page.  First off, you don't make derogatory comments about a person upon their professional pages.  I mean really, c'mon.  Would you go to their work and say, "Oh my god, you fucking suck!"?  Really?  Well, perhaps you would.  I like to think that I might have a bit more tact than that. Second, why do you feel the need to post anything negative about your family member in such a public manner?  If 'you have a family member with whom you have a issue, please just keep your shit between you.  Really, the rest of us don't need nor want to see it plastered on Facebook. It's just tacky.

So, going back to that complaining in a public forum thing I mentioned earlier.  If a person complains about how much another says in a public forum, it should be perfectly fair game to call them upon what they say in the same public forum.  I mean, turn around is fair play, right?  So I called this person upon their bullshit, yet I did it in a non-caustic way.  I simply reminded them that for someone who was so concerned with the information shared in this forum they might need to be more concerned with what they are showing about themselves.  You know.. the fact that they are showing they are the kind of sibling who has no problem being fucktastically rude and putting down their family in front of others. (Yes Gabe... fucktastic was for you.)  Now, was I wrong to call them on their crap?  I personally don't think so.  But I'm sure I'll hear otherwise from a few people. 

Well, like I said earlier... I lack the venom of the dread pirate, but at least I feel I have said my peace.  Oh, but I almost forgot the kicker.  This person, because they didn't like me calling them on their shit, UNFRIENDED me.  Oh that's funny.  It's like being seven and saying, "I don't want to be your friend because you won't let me win."  I mean really... grow the fuck up!

Thus ends my mini-rant. Thank you.

1 comment:

  1. bruce you big bald beautiful bastard. I love you. You are getting the hang of this. I totally approve. I don't even know the circumstances behind it, but you have truly made me proud. so lets grab a hold of the rigging and hoist up the flag. draw cutlassses and scream a battle cry. Yarr motherfucker!

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