Politics and Facebook

I read a great statistic in a related article... that there were 1.8 million tweets on election day 2008.  There are that many tweets now in just six minutes.  What role, then, for social media generally in politics?

Many aghast at Facebook friends' politics, study finds

by Chris Matyszczyk  March 12, 2012 5:28 PM PDT

It seems, astonishingly, that people aren't quite so familiar with how politically peculiar their Facebook friends are. At least that's what a Pew Study says. It also says 75 percent post something political.

Some on Facebook enjoy having their views challenged... few, I suspect, enjoy the mindless spamming of the extremist meme of the moment. At least I like to think I may count myself among the former.

Can it really be, though, that we are aghast at what others in FB acquaintances support?  Aghast: surprise or shock, particularly in at a negative or unhappy discovery.  Are you really "aghast" that someone might disagree with you?

A while back, in a comment on FB I can't find, I asserted that we are all working for the same end:  the best for everybody. If you don't think that is so, then you and I can have little to talk about.  But that's the critical question, though... and it's answer is truly revealing:  Do you believe that we are all working for the best for everybody?  I do think our recent political history is a stumbling block though. We are not accustomed to sustained and reasoned argumentation on our most sensitive topics. Our public discourse has devolved to utter sloganeering, and is generally devoid of true probity. I think this makes it hard for us to consider objective much of the "secondary discourse" we see written (or posted!) around us.

Hence, in respect for those who long for the FB of 2008... a new forum for much of my political commentary.  Feel free to comment yourself, below... Just log onto Google first....