I've been on Facebook since the days when a valid university email address was required. Facebook opened itself up to the world, and my "friend" list grew; I found a lot of people, a lot of them found me, and Facebook kept growing. Recently I was swamped with a sudden flood of requests to be added by people I haven't seen in ten to fifteen years or more. I have to admit, I feel guilty, because many of these people leave me posts or send messages asking what I've been up to and how I've been, and my replies have been scarce, to say the least. Kind of sad, really, but I know that I've changed from the last time they saw me--probably more than I'm even aware of. Sometimes I worry that these people have changed too, or worse yet, maybe some haven't changed at all.
Today, my reasons for being hesitant have been justified, if even only slightly, for being cautious. I witnessed someone I know (in the loosest sense of the word) make one of the most asinine comments I've ever had the displeasure to read.
While I have begun in recent years to develop some strong political opinions, I'm not normally one that looks to share these views unsolicited. I'm actually not going to do much of it now, either, because I'm going to concentrate more on the language than the politics. When I saw a "friend's" status (someone I haven't really talked to since my junior high school years--and we're talking back in 1987-88), I decided that revisiting any sort of friendship with this face from my ancient history is definitely not something I'm interested in. Here's what the status read:
"*name withheld for reasons of taste* wants Barack Obama to FAIL!"
Well, I've come to the conclusion that this person is apparently an idiot, and considering that all the memories I have to go on are from twenty-plus years ago, I'm also wondering whether or not he's changed. From what I recall, this person could throw a tantrum and pout with the best of them, so I suspect I can stop wondering--he hasn't.
This isn't the first provocative statement on the topic from this particular person, and my knee-jerk reaction was to fire a message back with something equally as juvenile, such as, "That's funny, I just spent the last eight years wanting GW to stop failing," but that wouldn't really accomplish anything. My reaction was simply to grant what I assume was his coded wish: I "unfriended" him, because any other action would be a waste of my time and his. Here's my reasoning.
I have always stood by my belief that Bush is/was/always will be a moron, but hear me out, because regardless of your political affiliation, there is a distinct difference here; I have never wished him to outright fail. For example, when I studied abroad, there were people that asked me how I thought the last couple years of Bush's administration would go. My answer usually was, "Well, I have a feeling it's going to get worse before it gets better." Whether or not I was correct is debatable.
Take a look at the language as I mentioned earlier; one statement signifies a sense of hopelessness while at the same time yearning for a change in that momentum, yet the other reveals an attitude toward someone that is not only bitter, but also belies a hidden undertone of fear that this person may not fail. Keep in mind that one observation was made after six years rather than after only a month of performance in the position. I would hope that most people shouldn't need this explained, but an educated adult with a career and family has convinced me that he is unable to grasp these concepts. Even if this came from someone with whom I had shared more history, I would have a hard time taking much they had to say very seriously anymore.
If anyone reading has made it this far--especially those that disagree with my views--and is offended by what I've written, I offer a challenge: convince me that a statement from anyone actively wanting a president to fail is not completely ludicrous and exactly the sort of harmful partisanship that is making politics today so damn ugly (you can use whatever sense of the word "fail" you'd like, and I'm tending to think in terms of any president in general, not necessarily Obama). I won't say it's an impossible task, but the chance of success is fairly minimal.
For those that haven't made it this far, I suppose saying, "Good riddance," is unnecessary.
For those that do agree and are still here; choir, preaching to it, blah blah…
