It was another innocent post run amok. A friend was considering migrating to Parler over concerns for alleged Facebook errors regarding policing of its site and allegations of outright censorship. A mutual acquaintance, a pastor, decried the use of Facebook in general for anything political. They found it best used for family connections and photos, not for “spouting off about politics.” He might not have meant to offend anyone, but it took only moments for someone to insult him. By not using Facebook for more important issues, someone implied, he must find Facebook’s practices expedient (politically?) or he is just a coward. I think there’s a wide variety of reasons to use or not use Facebook, not solely expediency or cowardice. And in this very exchange, I found a perfect example of how quickly the blessings of social media can go wrong.
I’ve never found Facebook or social media in general a great place to talk about politics. People seem prone to get angry and personalize things too quickly. People are easily misunderstood and talk at people rather than with people. Anonymous attacks are often the truly expedient and cowardly thing here, and attacking someone you barely know (if at all) from miles away, proves too easy. I suspect social media has a lot to do with our growing cultural and political divide these days, as well as the easy spread of half truths if not total falsehoods.
Yet, how can we influence anyone with what we understand as truth if we never interact due to our preferred social media bubbles? How can we humbly be sure that what we think is correct if fully so? Life isn’t as dualistic as social media can make things seem. I find there are other, better ways to talk about and address important issues. Face to face has a lot of benefits. If over a beer or other beverage, that certainly doesn’t hurt. People tend to listen better and be more respectful when together in person. We also communicate a great deal through our facial expressions and body language which gets missed in social media.
In person, I find I have a greater chance to have some form of lasting impact on someone, and I often feel I’ve come to a better understanding of things as well (either in affirming what I’ve come to believe or stretching my understanding in new directions). Preaching, teaching and (this day and age) blog posts or videos might prove more helpful and a more intentional way to share ideas – especially if a pastor/priest. Truth can get quickly muddled during social media’s pithy commentary, memes and jibes.
Facebook has a boatload of issues, perceptions of or very real censorship being one, but as for me, I don’t care what platform one uses. I just encourage people to remember their chosen platform’s limits and strive to use social media and interact in a way worthy of the name Christian. If it isn’t what one hopes, use it less or leave for hopefully greener passages.
With such limitations, I, like my fellow pastor-friend, find Facebook is perhaps best left to pictures/memes, family connections, and hearing about community events – not weighty discussions. It is demonstrably ineffective for that time and again. If one wants to migrate other places to discuss politics electronically (as many of my friends are), that’s fine with me too. Hopefully, it will prove better, but one never knows. I think it likely there will be limitations in any of these mediums at this point.
Will I migrate to another platform? Will I do several? I’m not sure yet or that Parler is a good fit for me or anyone. There are concerns over hate groups using it and other issues. I’ve not really looked into it. Again, I’m not a big fan of any social media even as I recognize it has some benefits. Plus, statistically, something new is always coming down the electronic pike. I anticipate Facebook will eventually go the way of Six Degrees, Myspace and others. I don’t feel a rush to change, but I won’t make fun of someone who does. I also won’t make fun of someone who wants to use Facebook or other social media for the weightiest of matters of all – to nurture loving connections with family and friends.
© 2020 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author.
During our recent sermon series on the Book of Job, our congregation members and world faced its own share of challenges and loss: economic threats, deaths in our extended family, a terrorist attack in Orlando, even our own roof-ripping kind of “whirlwind.” The world can seem a terrible place, and like Job, we are tempted to cry out to some divine police officer, “Violence! Help us!”
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