Guilt Trips.

I've already covered my thoughts on "Slacktivism" on Facebook and other social media.

It's all in here so I don't need to repeat myself if you are interested in re-reading it or if you are new here, read it for the first time.

The new trend in Facebook and other Social Media is to guilt trip us into being slacktivists. Yes folks, you get shit like "There is this problem and it really sucks ass and so I'm going to go on about it at length. Well not really since I just hit the share button because I'm a mindless sheep mentally stroking myself to feel better about the fact that I can't be arsed to do anything constructive about it. And I am going to guilt *YOU* into hitting the share button like a mindless sheep by saying that only my real friends will share it too."

Now before people who actually *DO* something and also post these messages start ripping into me...Think about this for a second. *IF* you actually do something about about the problem that you are posting about YOU ARE NOT THE PEOPLE I'M BITCHING ABOUT.

But look at that last bit. "only my real friends will share it too." That's the part that I'm complaining about here.

What are we saying when we post that. Think about this for a second. Either we are saying that I don't know who my real friends are and thus this metric will tell me who my friends are, or we are saying that only people that agree with me can be my close friends.

Really? In either case we seem to be saying that to be considered a friend, I have to fucking agree with everything you say. Folks, it doesn't work that way. My mother and I do not see eye-to-eye on all topics and she still loves me. My wife and I while are politically compatible have our differences and she still loves me.

Yeah, yeah, God only knows why...ha ha ha. Moving along.

But that's the way the world works folks. We are not cookie cutter, carbon copies of each other. We have things that we have in common with our friends, we have our differences. That's what makes having friends exciting. The differences.

I like guns. I like owning guns, I feel that any responsible adult should own them if they so choose and that they have the right to teach their children how to grow up to be responsible gun owners and let them decide if they want to own them. I have a friend who doesn't.

Guess what we DON'T talk about. Give you a hint. It rhymes with Nuns and it starts with a "G".

So when I see the "I don't eat meat and I know that the people who aren't my friends will not share the horror stories of what happens in the slaughter houses" posts the first thought is "Really, just because I choose to eat meat I'm not your friend? Damn, one less person on my Facebook page." Or the "President should be impeached because he did something I didn't like and only my real friends will share this" post. That one gets me thinking "So...just because I understand that impeachment proceedings are only if the President commits a criminal act (and not an unpopular one) you are going to disown me? Well that's one less card on my Christmas Card list. Saves printer ink."

So before we go posting the "only my real friends will share it too." crap, think about what you are saying for a minute before hitting submit. Are you REALLY so shallow that you only want people who are carbon copy clones of yourself? Or are you going to like your friends for doing all the things that have earned that place in your heart that you have reserved for friends regardless of whether or not they agree with you on absolutely everything?

Only my real...(check all that apply)
[] - Friends
[] - People I know
[] - Mortal eneimies
[] - Kid I paid $5 to rake my leaves

...will...(check all that apply)
[] - share this
[] - ignore this
[] - laugh at it
[] - report me to the thought police for being a dangerous free-thinking type