Not again!

Dangit, so no sh*t there I was... trying to get to the Facebook page I advertise on for business purposes. I usually go through a third party app but yesterday, I felt it was more convenient to just go through my personal account.

Facebook requires you keep a personal account to be an admin on a group, business, or professional account. Not sure I'd still have a personal account if that weren't required. 

In most cases, I use an app that takes me directly to the page I manage without seeing my personal account.

Yesterday I made a rookie move. I went in through the front door, so-to-speak. And there it was, the dreaded "feed." And there they were, the dreaded thought-vomiters; imparting their elitist "wisdom" on us peasants, and their carefully curated edicts and party approved talking points, masquerading as opinions.

Not gonna lie, I was sucked in for about five minutes. The whole can't stop looking at the car wreck thing.

It didn't take more than that to be so disgusted I signed out and signed back in through the platform I should have signed into to begin with.

Politics and hot-button divisive topics took over my feed years ago. Where there were once photos of children and pets, special family occasions, and warm memories, there were now pitchforks and knives.

Family member vs. family member. Neighbor vs. neighbor. Friend vs. friend.

As the last election cycle began, I knew I needed to go. There were already open hostilities I didn't want to see, and knew I'd end up being sucked into.

For me, it was a sign of things to come. I don't know how it occurred but much like a communal friend of a couple that breaks up, you're expected to go with one or the other. And after some fierce exchanges between opposing views by people I cared about... I did.

I chose what I perceived was the slightly less annoying, less extremist side. As less and less of my friends from the "other" side showed up, my feed became an echo chamber of extremist ideology. 

And there was no questioning the machine. You better be all in, toes on the line, get the memo in the morning, and parrot it all day, or fear the wrath of those who often reminded me it was MY honor they allowed ME to be their friend. And that 10, 20, 30 years of friendship could and would disappear if I stepped out of line.

Last year, already dissatisfied and feeling ever-isolated from any sanity in my friend group, I decided to stop being an active member of the platform, which seriously stinks because I LOVE Christmas and enjoy being the annoying friend counting down the days to the holiday. There's really nowhere left online for me to do so.

But I knew with an upcoming election year, I would find myself exhausted by what I'd read on the platform, and inevitably, sooner or later, share a "thought" that wasn't approved by Big Brother.

I had already been reminded by my elitist friends, after sharing individual thoughts a time or two, that I would be cut out of the cool-kid club if I didn't get back into the approved group-think.

Today, Mark Zuckerberg wrote a memo outlining how he made mistakes by allowing himself to be swayed by certain political factions. I appreciate he was willing to share his regrets and was inspired to put my thoughts on digital paper. 

In my 20/20 analysis, I too made mistakes by cutting out friends with opposing views, to stay in the good graces of those I thought were the cool kids, but who in reality couldn't give two hoots about me.

If nothing else, at least those who said what they meant with no fear of arguing their point, kept Facebook interesting. They weren't afraid to say what they believed, and I have great respect for those who live their lives that courageously.

At least if both sides of the aisle were equally as visceral on my feed, it would be more entertaining. Regardless, I don't regret leaving the day-to-day platform activity. 

There was a time when my wife who is my best friend in the world, said "don't leave. Say whatever you want and don't let them cancel you off the platform." 

I left anyway, and while I don't regret leaving, there are days I regret not having had the courage to listen to her, and stand up against opinions and positions I didn't agree with, for fear of actually being cancelled.

I'm glad to still use Facebook Messenger where I often engage directly with people I appreciate and care for. Interesting, almost exclusively, the people who care enough to reach out to me are the very people I unfollowed. They care about Jose the person. Whatever political or societal issues we may agree or disagree on, they care about Jose. The ones I thought were friends? Please. Haven't heard from them unless I reach out. Hypocrites.

Lots of woe-is-meing going on in this post. I guess I needed to get it out of my system. I feel better. Thanks for reading my post, Google. It's just you and me. Lol.