I prefer having ‘friends with disagreements’
Facebook is good for two things: 1. Seeing captioned photographs of kittens; and 2. Figuring out who is hated. I don’t understand either.
For the sake of brevity, and because it’s what I want to write about, we’ll focus on the latter: Facebook hating, or just hate in general.
Mind you, I’m not a very volatile person by nature. You basically have to set my head on fire for me to become hostile. And if you did set my head on fire, I wouldn’t hold it against you for long — partially because I am a forgiving soul, but mostly because I seem to forget anything that happened after two days.
But I do understand holding some animosity. For instance, in popular culture, I can sort of comprehend the public disdain for someone like Lance Armstrong or Bernie Madoff or O.J. Simpson. They did bad things, and people got hurt. I get that.
But there’s a lot of hate, as seen on Facebook and elsewhere, that I can’t fathom. Here are some I simply don’t get the hate for:
Jimmy Carter. So, a lot of people consider him a bad president. OK, fine. But since he was defeated in his reelection bid (shouldn’t that be enough?), which was 42 years ago, the guy has done little but devote his time and energies to charitable and worthwhile causes and making the world a better place. He’s spent the last four decades devoted to eradicating Guinea worm disease in third-world countries, saving millions of lives. What have I done more important than that? Absolutely nothing.
Ben Affleck.
Yes, I understand he acted in “Gigli.” And “Reindeer Games.” And “Jersey Girl.” But Steve Guttenberg was in four of the “Police Academy” movies as well as “P.S. Your Cat Is Dead,” and I don’t see the same kind of contempt for him.
Maybe it’s because Ben Affleck is politically active. That’s crazy. If we are going to base our consumption of movies, or pizza for that matter, on someone’s personal political views, then we’re going to have to quit movies, and pizza — which I certainly will not advocate.
Ben Affleck has also made some pretty darn good movies lately. I don’t get it.
Sarah Palin.
So a lot of folks think she wasn’t qualified to be vice president? So what? She lost, a long time ago. Isn’t that enough? Why keep up the loathing?
Tim Tebow.
First of all, I admit I wasn’t fond of Tebow when he was quarterback for the Florida Gators. It wasn’t personal. It’s because the Florida Gators made it a habit of beating my alma mater like a drum for most of my life, and most of his tenure in Gainesville.
But he seems like a genuinely nice person.
Whether he would have been a good NFL quarterback or professional baseball player or is a good TV commentator is up for debate, but hating the guy seems rather absurd.
Taylor Swift.
So, she sang about breaking up with her boyfriend. Is that really a legitimate reason for all the scorn? Neil Diamond sang a song about E.T. — a fictional space alien (1982’s “Heartlight”). Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson sang “The Girl is Mine.” Those are two of the three worst songs in the history of the world (the third being Starship’s “We Built This City.”)
Until Taylor Swift sings something that horrible, I don’t think the derision is justified.
Maybe I’m just lazy, but hating someone on Facebook, or the real world, seems to take a lot of effort. I’d rather just have “friends with disagreements.”