“You know something? I wasn’t aware of that. You really changed my mind,” said no one ever after reading a political post their friend shared on Facebook. Have you ever heard of the old saying, “He’s just preaching to the choir”? It means that someone is speaking for or against something to people who already agree with that person’s opinions.
“The speeches he makes to his supporters won’t win him any more votes. He’s just preaching to the choir.“
One of two things occurs after a person shares a politically related post on Facebook. If a reader agrees with the post, they may “like” it, smile to him or herself, and then move on. If a reader disagrees with the post, they most likely block the sharer to unfollow their page. It’s that simple. So essentially, the sharer or poster ends up preaching to the choir. Their post goes nowhere. It falls on deaf ears and it was a waste of time. But not only that, the poster likely pissed off almost everyone who happened to glimpse the nonsense because I’m fairly certain very few people enjoy being confronted by politics while cruising pictures of cats and nice houses on social media. Proclaiming a divisive interpretation of a political issue is a surefire way to lose friends and family. It’s highly unattractive. No, it’s actually downright ugly.
Have you ever noticed that political posts garner very few reactions? Yes, every now and then, I’ll see an inflammatory share incite some sort of ridiculous online argument that lasts for far too long, but by a large margin, most posts I see earn themselves a like or two. Share a picture of yourself holding your new puppy? 143 likes. Share something that someone else wrote about how stupid Trump or Obama is? Two likes. And the likes are generally offered by some lonely soul who seeks to signal their virtue, just as the original poster did.
In today’s world, each person is very much attached to one side or the other. There’s no middle anymore. Sure, most of us maintain that we straddle the line to those we don’t know, but when we’re among those who are of like mind, we belt out that we simply can’t stand transgenders playing in girl’s sports. Or that we can’t stand how much money our government is wasting on needless programs and employees. The point is, with all of us being incessantly inundated with information and viewpoints from the moment we wake in the morning to the moment our heads hit the pillow at night, we’ve become firmly divided. Whether that be a good thing or a bad thing, I have no idea. What I do have an idea about is how utterly irritating it is to attempt to delve into the mind of someone who thinks it’s appealing or somehow helpful to offer their entrenched opinion to 50% of the people out there who love the opinion and 50% of the people out there who would enjoy nothing more than printing the opinion out on a sheet of paper just to burn it.
My point is this: If a person knows that their political viewpoint is going to cause a stir among those who may not see the value of it, why share the viewpoint at all? Does that make sense? There’s a reason every single etiquette book in existence tells the reader to avoid politics, religion, and abortion while in discussion with anyone they care about, especially during dinner. The aforementioned topics are what we refer to as divisive, rude, inflammatory, and generally in bad taste. They drive a wedge between people and, personally, I can’t remember any time during my many years on this planet that the spewing of perspectives has changed the mind of anyone. Ever.
The question remains though. Why? Why do people continue to do such things? For the life of me, I can’t think of one reason someone would work so resolutely to lose friends they’ve worked so hard to earn and keep.
There are two truths pertaining to this topic.
1. No one cares about what you think, and
2. You’re not educating anyone.
So please stop.
