And Dem Republicans Be Like...

I've been around for a long time.  Not nearly as long as my mother nor my aunt of course, but you know...a fairly long time.  I've had the pleasure to watch television come into our lives, first as black and white and then move into color.  What a joy it was when Mom and Dad finally bought a color TV and we could watch Disney's Wide World of Color!  

We moved into the little transistor radios and then into audio cassettes.  I remember walking to school carrying my transistor and dancing to the pop music along the way.  When I was still in high school, Telstar came along to broadcast telephone and television signals.  That's how I could watch Neil Armstrong walk on the moon.

I've watched different social media come to life.  I jumped into it feet-first in the early 90s through Internet Relay Chat (IRC).  Met thousands of people along the way, including my husband.  When our IRC #41plus channel started waning, one of our members created a new venue for us on this new thang called "Facebook."

Okay, back to the main idea of this entry...  My first time to vote was just after 1971 when President Nixon signed in the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  This Amendment gave people 0f 18 the right to vote.  I was 21.  There were Republicans and there were Democrats and there were Libertarians and there were other parties out there.  And they were sending mean and dirty television ads toward one another.  But without this newfangled immediate social interaction, we tended to keep it local.  Hell, in the beginning there were battles between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists.  But there were no memes of sarcasm and hatred and shaming to spur each other on.

Not no more no how.  Boy howdy!  Daily we get hit by memes and polls and meanness on a minute-to-minute basis.  We get to see how much we think differently.  How Republicans are angels to those dirty Democrats.  We get to see how Democrats are forward-thinking patriots to those education-hating Republicans.  Conservatives are great!  Liberals are fanatic!  Conservatives are bad: holding back the future!  Liberals are good: looking at where we need to go to stay a world!

Aren't you tired yet of all this?

There is no other purpose to post such trash than to create divisiveness.  I recently heard in an interview that we are no longer attempting to change people's minds with our political posts on social media, but to create more division.  To nanner nanner in people's faces.  To stick out our tongues and play with our wagons in front of those who aren't of like mind.  I also heard that the newest charged Russian admitted to plastering Facebook with such memes in hopes to split us apart.  It has seemed to work, didn't it *sigh*

So let's stop.  Yes, just stop it.  Let's find what we have in common.  We are all worried about a great deal of issues.  NBC News found these 15 things are what we all are concerned about--the issue if not the possible solution:

54% - The availability and affordability of healthcare

53% - The economy

51% - The possibility of future terrorist attacks in the U.S.

46% - The Social Security system

46% - The size and power of the federal government

46% - The way income and wealth are distributed in the U.S.

43% - Hunger and homelessness

43% - Crime and violence

39% - Illegal immigration

38% - Drug use

37% - Unemployment

34% - The quality of the environment

28% - The availability and affordability of energy

28% - Race relations

25% - Climate change

If we all tend to share these concerns, then we are not so different as the magic memes say we are.  So whadya say we start finding ways to be chums again.  Stop pissing off others just for the joy of "gotcha."  (You can also leave off pictures of your dinners on social media, but that's a whole separate issue.)  Remember the "be respectful" part of being out in public (and always wear clean underwear just in case you are in an accident.  But again, another issue).

peace~~~