The limits of your “free speech”…

I want people to have opinions. I’d prefer that they be informed opinions, but there’s not much I can do about that. The fact that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, though, doesn’t in any way imply that I have any obligation to give you a platform with which to expound upon it – and certainly not in the comment threads of my various social media accounts. 

With that in mind, I’m here tonight to announce a revised policy. I’m going to continue posting my opinions on social media for the foreseeable future. Some people will find it entertaining, others will find it infuriating. The catch is, I’m no longer going to stand around watching while anyone comes wandering onto my pages posting wackadoodle crackpot conspiracy theorist foolishness, sedition, blatant lies, political fan fiction, or racist, sexist, or homophobic fuckery. 

In that spirit, I’ll make you a corresponding promise to not go onto other people’s posts spewing my unpopular opinions. I’m going to insist upon being shown the same courtesy. If you want to deep dive an angry comments section, there are plenty of pages on social media where you can get your fill of it. My page will no longer be one of them. Starting immediately, I’m just going to go ahead and delete those comments. No discussion. No explanation. If I find some on my friends list just can’t help themselves, I’ll smash that unfriend button with a smile on my face.

There will be some who are tempted to come over the side here and rumble that they “don’t pick their friends based on politics.” The fact is, I don’t either. I can’t remember the last time I asked someone I met in a social setting for their political CV. If, however, I ended up with a friend sitting in my living room who couldn’t seem to help themselves from continually spewing weird, fringe political opinions, you can count on me giving them the bums rush out the front door as expeditiously as possible. The bottom line is this: You should feel absolutely free to have all the opinions you want right there on your very own page. If you don’t like something you see in my page, feel free to just scroll on past. I’ll do the same with whatever “troublesome” content I see on your page. That’s the bedrock of what has allowed friends and neighbors to get along for time out of mind and I can’t see any reason it shouldn’t work in the age of social media.