Simplifying

It is quite likely the single best component of Facebook and utilizing it can have a profound effect on your blood pressure, if not your life.  It is the "unsubscribe" button.  Clicking on it means you no longer to tolerate the aimless meanderings and musings of some of your friends.  The epiphany for me came after an election in my former home state.  While I do not begrudge people their opinions or their political leanings, I cannot abide slavish devotion to party, gullibility if not ignorance, or posts that have zero grounding in fact. 

I love a good debate as much as anyone and, with some friends, it is actually possible.  We present our points of view without rancor, without personal attacks, without resorting to talking points.  Unfortunately, this approach is not universal. In fact, it may be the opposite of universal.  Maybe I have reached an age where the tolerance level on my stupid meter need recalibration, but I refuse to suffer fools, gladly or otherwise.  If you believe the problem with rising college tuition rates is the interest rate on student loans, we are unable to have a sensible discussion.  If you believe that a politician doing a 180 on a long-held view the day after a state votes on that issue is a profile in courage, there is nothing for us to say.  And if you are unable to breathe in and out without seeking divine assistance, wow. 

Clicking "unsubscribe" is, in a word, liberating.  Look, no one wants to be "that guy", the cranky old coot telling all the neighborhood kids to "get off my lawn", but I have reached the point where I demand certain things from people in order to consider them either friends or worthy debate partners.  First, you have to be consistent, meaning your position on an issue cannot change based on which party supports or opposes your viewpoint.  Partisan politics may  be the single-most destructive force in American rhetoric today.  It is breathtaking the number of people who wanted to try George Bush for war crimes based on a series of anti-terrorism measures put in place under his watch but do not bat an eye when Barrack Obama not only continues those policies but adds to them. 

Second, you have to come to the discussion with facts.  Not talking points, not bumper sticker slogans, not conspiracy theories.  Facts.  If technology has done nothing else, it has made it impossible for the truly interested person to be uninformed on any issue.  There are countless sources to peruse, both inclined to support your viewpoint and oppose it.  It is often worthwhile to look over a source that disagrees with you to see what substantive reasons, if any, are enumerated. 

Third, personal attacks are a discussion killer.  When you decide that the opposition is stupid, evil, motivated by sinister forces, or in any way driven by something other than a different point of view, you have not only lost the argument, you have forfeited the right to engage in it.  There is nothing to be gained by talking to people who take the ad hominem route and valuable time to lose. 

Today, the list of people from whom I will see thoughts, articles, opinions, or pictures is smaller than it was yesterday.  And, it feels pretty good.  People are entitled to their beliefs; however, they are not entitled to force others to listen to them or to agree with them.  I love a good debate as much as anyone and tuning these folks out means maximizing the chances of good debates by limiting the possibility of being sucked into pointless ones.  Many of you know what I am talking about - a friend posts something that is so out there that you can't help yourself.  You have to respond and you may spend an ensuing period of time wondering how your seemingly intelligent friend can be so obtuse.  It is a waste of time for you will find no answer.  In addition, you will lose respect for that individual and, in some cases, may wonder why you thought him/her a friend in the first place.  Simplify.  You will be glad you did.