I rarely open Facebook. At best, it’s boring and banal. At worst it’s ugly and dangerous.
I don’t have a Twitter account. I’m too old to tweet. I’ll leave that to the birds – and bird brains like Donald Trump.
It’s not that I don’t want to keep up with friends and family. But I have an email account. And a telephone.
I really don’t need to be told I looked handsome a half-century ago. We all looked great back then. And the older we get the better we used to look.
I know I don’t look handsome now, so there’s no point in being reassured to the contrary.
Of course, that’s all harmless and I know my friends and relatives mean well. So that’s not the reason I shun Facebook and all the other “social media” platforms.
It’s the politics.
So much offensive trash gets circulated. And there’s no point in responding to it.
You could be arguing with a Russian troll or “bot.” And you could lose a friend. Or hurt a loved one’s feelings.
You could even get shot, like that guy in Florida, a few miles from my home. No kidding.
Apparently two local men in their forties got to arguing on Facebook over Trump and felons’ voting rights. Here’s what happened next, according to Tampa police:
Forty-four-year-old Brian Sebring “just snapped and let primal rage take over” when he left work early on Monday, so he went home to get his gun and headed to the home of 46-year-old Alex Stephens.
He parked outside Stephens’ house and honked the horn. Stephens came out carrying what Sebring said looked like a knife. So Sebring fired.
Stephens was treated at a local hospital and Sebring is facing criminal charges. And that’s not all.
Sebring is under attack by media trolls.
“I ruined my life over this,” he said. “Now my mother is too afraid to leave the house, my sons are afraid to walk to school or church, all because of some keyboard gangsters.”
