Facebook Status Frenzy – When is it Considered Too Much?

I am writing this in my response to the hundreds of responses to the elcection that I have seen via Facebook. As many of you may know, Facebook has a feature called "status" where users basically update the world on their lives. They range anywhere from "So-and-so has a headache" to "So-and-so can’t wait to see his/her bf/gf" to "So-and-so is [insert random lyrics here]." Seems pretty frivilous and harmless, right?

However, as of last night, I have seen some pretty hateful things posted on Facebook in regards to the election. I myself am very excited about the outcome of the election (hence my status: "Lauren is sooooooooo happy!!!!!!!!!"). The comments I have seen are racist, ignorant, and unpatriotic.

Now I am all for freedom of speech and expression, but where do we draw the line?

Here are my favorite Facebook statuses (I am leaving out names):

• "[name] is is thanking god he put in his application for handguns before a terrorist became president."
• "[name] is disgusted with what this country is coming too"
• "[name] is really trying to understand how America can be so dumb."
• " [name] is scared of the next four years."
• "[name] is is in shock….This country is in for a rude awakening."
• "[name] is moving to canada…….thanks america….."
• "[name] knows its really cool to hate George Bush and Republicans and all… but get with the fucking program you morons."
• "[ name] wants to know who’s moving to canada with me?? haha."

Of course there are positive ones as well, but they are not offensive. There are so many more in addition to those I stated, but I just wanted to highlight a few. There are also a lot of people who want  "to move to Canada" rather than stand by their nation. I have three points to make in regards to all of this:

1. The Republicans allegedly refered to Obama a socialist. Are all these people who want to "move to Canada" aware that Canada is more of a socialist nation than the USA? They have programs such as universal health care, a national pension plan, national student loan system, and a national energy program. Also, Canada is one of the few nations without legal restrictions on abortions. Abortions are legal for women above the age of 12 and no parental consent is needed. They are also funded on request by Medicare. (Sounds exactly like the place the conservatives want to be, huh?)
2. Statesments such as those aforementioned are based on ignornace and hatred, especially the horrific terrorist claim. It is the 21st century. It is sickening that we are still battling these inequalities (and even more so that young adults feel the need to spread this hatred over Facebook.) Express your opinions, but please do educated research beforehand and be respectful.
3. I voted for Obama, but even if McCain won, I would not be "leaving the country." What would be the patriotic thing to do? Stand by your nation. Have a little bit of faith. Did I agree with all of McCain’s policys? No, I did not. But if he were the President-Elect, I would respect him and hope for the best. The political parties are constantly saying why they are more "American" than the other. Well then, do the American thing and support the USA. Like Obama said last night, he’s not a Democrat’s president, he is EVERYONE’S president. Have some faith in your country!

I wanted to share this with everyone here because I think it touches on many issues previously discussed on these postings. Like I said, evyerone has a right to express their opinions, but where do we draw the line? Are people really so petty that it comes down to posting offensive "statuses" on Facebook to offend otheres? And this is coming from the younger generations – aren’t we supposed to be the generation of change? I may not agree with everyone’s political views, and that’s fine. But I do expect people to be respectful.