Dealing with liberals on Facebook

I do not agree with the old saying, "Never discuss religion and politics." A better saying is: "Do not discuss religion or politics with an idiot." That's a saying that is best fitting, especially in the world of Facebook, where propaganda sharing has been put on steroids, particularly through the use of memes. These often segue into discussions, some of which incite anger.

A recent example is the issue of Syrian Refugees. After the attack on France by members of ISIS who apparently came in among the influx of refugees, there have been calls in the U.S. to keep the refugees out of the U.S., at least until better vetting procedures are created. Yet many friends on Facebook equate this form of "being careful" with racism and xenophobia.

When you argue with them they do not say, "You are an idiot." That wouldn't be nice.  What they do is even worse.  They allude to the fact that you are an idiot, and make you feel terrible about yourself. They say things like, "You just need to stop listening to people just who you agree with." Or, "You are just being old school.  You need to wake up."

Recently one of my friends on Facebook made a comment about the attacks by conservatives on government funding of Planned Parenthood.  He said Margaret Sanger would be rolling in her grave. In response to this I wrote, "Did you know Sanger opposed abortion."  His response, "You are wrong. You are dogmatic.  You need to stop hanging around just people you agree with."  I'm paraphrasing, but that's essentially what he said.

So, that said, what to do you do about liberals on Facebook? What do you do when someone puts something on their Facebook page that is not true?

1. Understand Liberals are good at emoting.  When faced with a question, liberals ask the question, "Does it feel good?"  They look at themselves here and ask, "Will it feel like I am helping someone?"  Yes, I feel like I'm helping the refugees.  They ask the question, "Will our country feel good."  Yes, we will be helping people in need.  So if you oppose letting in refugees, they emote. They say things like, "Well, if you don't want to let them in, then you are racist." Liberals make decisions based on emotions, so when you oppose their ideas they emote. "You just don't care," they say.  Another example is social security. All evidence suggests our current social security program is unsustainable.  Yet if conservatives propose to change it, liberals claim, "You just don't care about old people," or, "You just want to throw grandma over the cliff."  A more general wine by liberals is, "You are dogmatic.  You are just not educated.  This is mainly because you only hang out with people you agree with."  Getting into a political discussion with people like this is like blowing snow during a blizzard.  You could give them all the facts in the world and you won't change their minds. They will make you out to be an idiot, racist, homophobe, old school, dogmatic, etc. It's best to avoid them altogether. If you do approach them, make them site.  This way you can shame them for being so uninformed; so subject to propaganda. Shame them for forming decisions based on feelings rather than facts, and show them why this is so dangerous.

2.  Know they don't know the facts. Again, they make decisions based on emotions rather than facts.  For this reason, they are genuinely ignorant people, at least when it comes to politics. When they put stuff on Facebook, they are nothing more than provocateurs. They are arrogant and condescending and thing they're morally superior to you.  So, no matter what you do, do not go on defense.  Do not let them get you into a position where you feel like you have to defend yourself. You do not need to offer proof, because your opinions are sound.  They need to offer you proof. This is how you burn them. This is how you show them that liberalism is the cause of problems, not the solution. Keep them on defense by staying on offense. Again, do not let them put you in a position where you feel you have to prove what you believe. Do not try to explain whey abortion is bad, let them explain why it's good.  You see, that's what they are trying to do, is position you as morally inferior to them.

2.  Don't get caught in the sewer.  Liberals like to make you out to be an uncaring idiot.  This is mainly because they make decisions based on emotions. If you oppose Obamacare, then you don't care about the sick.  If you oppose gay marriage, then you must hate gays. You are not going to win a discussion with people like this.  It's best just to stay out of this sewer.  It's just best to ignore them. Basicall, don't get into an argument with a fool, because after a while you can't tell who's who. They'll beat you down with their emotions. You are not going to change their minds on anything. You could offer all the facts in the world, and you are just uncaring.

3.  If you do approach them, make them cite evidence.  It's best to just avoid them, but if you do decide to jump into the arena, make them site evidence.  They say anyone opposing Syrian Refugees is racist.  Ask them to site their evidence.  Ask them to name names.  Ask them to explain the virtues of the refugees. Ask them if it's possible someone might pretend to be a refugee just to get into this country.  Poke holes in their claims by making them site. Make them demonstrate what they don't know. Of course the problem here, when they don't know the answer, when they have no facts to back up their claims, they will go right back to emoting. So, again, you must be brave to go into this arena.

4.  Stay on offense.  Do not go on defense.  Do not let them get you into this trap. You state fact after fact after fact. You ask them to state facts in support of their argument. If it gets to the point where you have to go on defense, it's best just to go away. You do not let them gain any moral authority. You must make them prove that they are right. When they can't, you walk away knowing that you are the winner. Do not go back, because you will probably find you have been attacked and ridiculed.And then demonstrate that all they're doing is emoting. And then shame them. Shame them for being so uninformed, for being so malleable, so subject to propaganda, and blame them for posing a great threat. Their attitudes are putting this country at great risk. Just don't ever go on defense with them, Adam. Just always stay on offense. Do not grant them any moral superiority. You make 'em prove it, demo it.

5.  Leave when you are ahead.  So you state a fact that you think states your point.  Good. Then go away. If you go look at the discussion again, you will see that you have been attacked.  You have poked a huge hole in their argument, one of which they have no evidence to refute.  They do not have the facts on their side. So it is here that they call you "backwoods," or "dogmatic." It is here that they tell you you are dogmatic and only hang out with people you agree with.  When, in truth, it is they who are dogmatic and only hang out with people they agree with. The truth is you know them better than they know you. The truth is that you are well informed, and it is they who are misinformed. Yet you don't want to go there.  This is where political discussions can go bad.  So, it's best just to stay out of this sewer unless you are really up on your facts and aren't worried about hurting a liberals feelings.

6.  Don't let them depress you.  Sometimes, you see so much liberal filth on the Internet you have a tendency to depression.  It's easy for people continuously exposed to liberals to become depressed (such as students of liberal teachers), because they think we are the blame for all the problems in the world.  They tell kids that their parents are destroying the economy. Their parents are struggling to make ends meet, and their teachers tell them that "this is the new normal."  There's all sorts of reasons why exposure to liberalism can make you depressed.  Don't let them make you depressed.  I don't get depressed.  I get angry. But never depressed.  If they make you depressed, just walk away; avoid the sewer.

7.  Stay off Facebook.  If it gets to the point these people just piss you off, just stay away from them.  If it gets to the point you feel you have to respond to them, unlike them.  You probably can't block them because they are your friends and relatives, but you can hide them. That's what I do.  If you looked at my Facebook page, you only see pages of people who have something intelligent to say. Yet there are times I get so irritated with all the liberal filth on Facebook that I just stay away for a while.

8.  Stay informed.  Read as much as you can from credible sources.  Get your news from more than one source, and that means sources of various political affiliations.  Understand that most of the media is bias, and liberally biased. So, when I say get your news from more than one source, I do not mean reading the New York Times and then watching MSNBC and ABC News. I mean watch ABC News, watch MSNBC (if you can handle it), watch CNN, watch Fox News, read the New York Times, and also read National Review, and listen to shows like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. You must hear all voices. You must read about the founding fathers. You must read about how this country was formed. In order to fight off the liberal infusion going through the veins of this nation which is attempting to destroy it from within, we must keep ourselves educated. Show them how naive it is to let anyone into this country who wants in. Show then how it makes us less safe. Show them how liberals make us less safe.

9. Don't be afraid to use conservative media.  Many times I post links to news articles showing evidence.  My liberal friends will say that that's part of my problem right there, that I already have a slant. And even when I site a liberal source like ABC News, the immediate response is insults and name calling that have nothing to do with the cited source. They do this because they don't have any evidence on their side. They are genuinely ignorant. In order to gain moral superiority, they have to discredit you and your sources, no matter where they are from. They will not respond to any facts in a positive light, because they are not there to debate ideas: they are there to bully you. They want to make you look inferior.  They want to look Superior to you. For this reason, they believe they don't have to prove anything to you. They believe that you are the idiot.  They believe you are dogmatic, racist, homophobic, or whatever the slam of the day is.  So, if you do want to engage them, leave a link to a related article with the evidence to show them they are flawed, and then know that they probably won't read it. Know that when you go back to read the response, it will probably be an attack on you that ignores the article altogether. Just do not let them drag you into the sewer, because that's their goal.

10.  Know liberals are depressed.  Liberals are very depressed about the world. Many do not believe in God, and so they have no reason to feel the goodness of God.  They have no reason to feel the optimism and joy.  They believe mankind is the cause of global warming, global cooling, or climate change.  They feel panicked about the world we live in, and believe if we don't make changes the world will come to an end soon. They believe that people with disposable income are greedy and selfish and worthy of punishment by taxes.  They don't see large corporations as creating thousands of jobs, but as evil and greedy and out to control the world, so they try to take them down with high taxes and regulations.  They see rich people as hoarding all the worlds money supply so their won't be any available for the rest of us.  They try to find victims wherever they can in order to turn them into liberal democrats.  They do this by punishing those who succeed with high taxes and redistributing this money to those in need. In this way, they buy votes and turn otherwise hard working people into little democrats. Kids see their world, and they become depressed. Liberals are depressing. So when you offer them facts, when you attack their ideas, you are attacking their soul. In fact, their liberalism is their religion. If you offer your facts or your ideas, you are, in essence, attacking their religion. So, when you have a hard core liberal, it's best just not to engage them.  Take the morally high and superior ground and just let them rant and ignore them.  Know that you are right, and that you don't need to prove yourself right.  Do not engage them.  Do not let them drag you down into the sewer with them.  Do not let them make you depressed (angry, maybe, but never depressed).

11.  They will never admit you are right.  They already know they are right. They have no need to offer any evidence whatsoever.  This is why it is so easy for them just to ignore any facts you offer or cite and attack you instead.  They already believe they are morally superior.  They are arrogant and condescending about their idiotic ideas.  They, therefore, will never admit they are right.  When you prove them right, they will never apologize. Their only goal is to make you depressed so you can join them in the sewer of ignorance.  Their goal is to make you mad.

12.  Know they don't educate themselves.  If you were to observe a liberal, you will soon realize that they do not read the news nor watch the news on TV. They do not have time for it, because they are more interested in entertaining themselves with filth. So, if you know someone is like this, you know that they can't possibly be educated on the issues.  This goes back to an old saying that if you do not teach conservatism, a person will automatically revert to liberalism.  If you are  a liberal, you make decisions based on feelings over facts. They try to downplay facts. Facts don't matter to them. They want refugees into this nation because it feels good to them.  And now I have come full circle.

You may also enjoy reading:

• Liberalism is a gutless choice
• 4 differences between liberals and conservatives (coming in April, 2016)

Childhood depression on the rise, but are smartphones really the cause? Or is it schools teaching them to fear?

So reports of a rise in childhood depression have lead some of the world's leading child psychologists into blaming social media, such as Facebook, and material things such as smartphones.  The telegraph quotes a child psychologist with 25 years of experience named Julie Lynn Evans:

“In the 1990s, I would have had one or two attempted suicides a year – mainly teen aged girls taking overdoses, the things that don’t get reported. Now, I could have as many as four a month.... “f I try to refer people on, everyone else is choc-a-bloc too. We are all saying the same thing. There has been an explosion in numbers in mental health problems amongst youngsters. Something is clearly happening,” she says, “because I am seeing the evidence in the numbers of depressive, anorexic, cutting children who come to see me. And it always has something to do with the computer, the Internet and the smartphone.”

She's basically saying that kids are exposed to too much stuff, to too much information. They get too much access to wisdom too fast, and making more and more of them increasingly depressed.  I understand that kids today have fast access to knowledge we had to go out of our way to find at a library or bookstore when we were kids.

However, rather than jump to conclusions, lets consider some other things that are going on in the world today that might cause kids to become increasingly depressed.

1. Kids being taught that God, the harbinger of hope and faith, does not exist
2. Kids being taught that man made global warming is destroying the planet
3. Kids learning hearing doomsday predictions in schools
4. High rate of divorce that has kids separated from their families and friends
5. High rate of single parent households 
6. High rate of kids growing up in poverty
7. Kids being taught that they are bad if they respect traditional marriage
8. Kids being taught to be afraid of eating foods they love based on theories
9. Kids, many of whom are overweight, taught that being overweight is bad
10. Government programs taking away the incentive to work, thus leading to families trapped in poverty
11. Kids not being able to eat the feel good foods they want to eat while in school
12. Fear that Muslims will try to kill them
13. Not being able to speak the truth about Muslims
14. Christian children not being able to pray in school, or being ridiculed for talking about their beliefs
15. Conservative children being mocked and ridiculed for talking about their beliefs
16. Children hearing their parents called Nazis, homophobes, idiots, gramma haters, due to their beliefs
17. Christians being persecuted all over the world, and no one doing anything about it
18. The country being "fundamentally transformed" from capitalism to socialism. 
19. A rise in laws that tell people what they can and cannot do; laws that take away liberties
20. Kids not being told the truth about the founding of this country, and being ridiculed when they do
21. Kids being told they are idiots for believing in a "fictional, mythological Bible."
22. An endless parade of hate, fear, and vitriol being taught in schools.
23. Kids being told they cannot grow up to be better than their parents. 
24. Parents having to go bankrupt because of the poor economy
25. Parents losing their jobs because of the poor economy
26. Parents being forced to work two or three part time jobs because of Obamacare
27. Fear that they will have less freedom than their parents
28. Fear of terrorism
29. Fear that they will be forced to go to war
30. Fear of a Muslim Caliph
31. Fear of Russia taking over Europe
32. Fear of WWIII

I mean, I could go on.  What do you think.  Is too much access to wisdom making kids depressed? Or is it all the exposure to hate, fear and vitriol? 

Here's why I don't do Facebook

People at work ask me all the time why I don't do Facebook.  I usually tell them I have nothing useful to say.

The true reason is because I'm too busy for Facebook. I get up every morning and write, and then I spend time with my kids.  That doesn't leave any time for Facebook.

I usually do go to Facebook once or twice a week, and usually it's when I'm too tired to do anything useful. Then what I find is that every other update is from one or two people who seem to monopolize my Facebook page.  It's not that I'm not interested in what they have to say, but that I'd like to see what more than one or two people are up to.

There's also the fact that it appears that Facebook is merely just a place where people can advertise themselves.  This can be fine if it's a neat picture or two, but some people put junk that's not worth sharing and all it does is take up space so I can't get to stuff I'm interested in.

There are things I do like about Facebook.  I like that you can regain contact with friends you lost contact with years ago because Facebook didn't exist.  I like getting news, sports, and political updates.  I also like being able to easily message my friends, and to have an occasional chat online.

But the rest of Facebook, as far as I'm concerned, is not something I want to be pinned to for several hours a day.  I care about all the people who are my friends on Facebook, and even many I chose not to friend.  Yet I'm not a fan of updates that notify me of everything a person does on any given day.

Please take no offense if you are one of the culprits as this is merely my personal opinion, and does not in any way affect whether or not I like you.  Also, if you are the kind of person who constantly complain about those who have alternative opinions as you, I will block you too.

Chances are you will not know I did this, and it does not mean I don't like you.  As a conservative and libertarian, I do not want to shut up the voices of those who have alternative views, but if you even hint that you do you will be blocked. Sorry, that's just the way it is.