'Merica

 'Merica! Where we can say and do whateva we want!

My Facebook feed gets flooded with all sorts of quotes, rants, and proclamations of love for food, family, and God. Facebook does allow me to filter the feeds from anyone I'd rather not see. I don't use the filter because this seems like overkill to me since I do enjoy seeing updates, photos, and connecting with loved ones I don't have time to see. The bombardments of memes and praises for Jesus doesn't phase me one bit. What does concern me are the individuals who share jokes and memes without understanding the message of what is being shared (or if the do understand, they're so completely detached from reality they fail to grasp the inhumanity of the message). Take this meme for example where someone posted the results of what is supposed to be a nuclear strike on Mecca (I think) saying that the problem was "solved". I won't go into how many MORE global problems that would bring up (social, economic, culural, environmental, etc.) but you get the idea.

So when I come across something like this I try to point out why this is morally wrong. I try not to do it in a smug "holier than thou" manner but simply pointing out that the individual might need to reevaluate sharing what they shared. Depending on your Facebook settings these images and jokes can be seen by friends, family, coworkers and companies looking to hire you. You may think the content is funny, and you ABSOLUTELY have the freedom to share it, but do you really have to act on an impulse simply because you are free to do so? Some fundamentalist groups believe it is their right to stand up for their beliefs by publicly condemning gays, and when they are prevented from partaking in their hate speech they play the "We're being persecuted" card. In the end you'll just end up looking foolish trying to protect your pride and beliefs.

I believe we should focus more on how we should utilize our freedoms to improve the quality of life for our global neighbors than abuse those freedoms for our own selfish reasons. But we are talking about Facebook, it is the home for egocentrics.