I don't know about everybody else, but the scroll on my Facebook feed has recently become more toxic than I seem to recall it having been before, with anti-Trump and official-culture stuff. -However, the toxicity is carried with greater potency by fewer people.
Many folks seem just worn out on politics in general and are more interested in simply dissociating with pop culture or sharing travel and pet pics, etc..
A few, however, who were active commenters during the election process have become entrenched and bitter, collecting up their fortified versions of every story so that rapid canned replies to various points can be made at any opportunity. There is effort to separate people into groups and distill their reasons for why the "Other" is beneath respect, etc.
It's interesting, because I understand where they're coming from to a degree, having entertained many liberal views at certain points along the road. Heck, I remember waaaay back feeling quite certain that car exhaust was responsible for hockey sticks, and more recently, I took much of the anti-Trump hype at face value.
Now...
One thing which I've been thinking over a lot lately is the nature of relationships and conflict...
That is, when a friend or partner has pointed out my B.S., or some knot in myself, I've often exploded at them. -Far less as I grew older; it takes seasoning and self-awareness to recognize that an ego driven emotional auto-reaction might not be the best way to advance, and to find new ways to go about knot-untying. Everybody here has experienced some version of this lesson curve, I am sure.
One of the best friends I've ever had always fascinated me in her approach to this. At quite a young age, she'd managed to become really skilled at it without any training. -She was really good at spotting B.S. in people, and in pointing it out. But that wasn't the fascinating part. It was the way she dealt with the resulting explosions; it was like they didn't matter, or perhaps bore the same character as any expected reaction, like flipping bacon is going to cause hot fat to fly. Or changing a baby's diaper might involve a loud fuss. You could see from her expression that she recognized the pain involved, but she didn't take it personally and just waited patiently until you were done blowing up and then carried on being your friend. As a result, there are dozens of people in her life who consider her among their most valued connections. Where others ran away or became enemies or whatever, she remained, put up with their friction, and helped them grow into better versions of themselves. -Which in many, many cases, they indeed did.
She sometimes didn't seem to recognize the difference between this process and abuse, and stuck around with some people for far longer than I was comfortable observing, but my tolerance for B.S. has shortened considerably over the years, especially when I see others I care about being affected by it. But for the most part she picked her people well.
It seems to me that receiving or providing the service of B.S.-busting is to trade in something extremely valuable. (If it is desired, that is.) -Valuable, precisely because it is simply easier to walk away from people and just let them stew in their own delusions when you know the blowback will be strong. -Especially when that blowback can involved the hurt person rallying others to their cause, (your denunciation and destruction).
Anyway...
I look at some of the coiled springs on FB, and I think, "Is it worth touching that off? There will absolutely be an explosion, and I will probably suffer. Is it a violation to break belief, or is that post a request for conflict? Can I handle it? Is it worth it? Will it lead to something better or just re-coil and leave me with shrapnel in my face?"
...
In retrospect, this might be a post better suited to some other section of the forum, however it is of particular relevance right now with the current political trends I am finding.
