I’ll Just Be Over Here, Quietly Shaking My Head

I despise the xenophobic tone of your posts that claim to be made in the name of “protecting Canadians” from refugees, but I do not want to expose myself to the kind of vitriol you or your friends have shown others who attempted to reason with you.

I am happy to have seen the Conservative government removed from office in the last election but, while I gave extensive thought and research to my vote, I do not feel that I have the quick recall of facts and figures necessary to engage you in a political debate.

Likewise, given that the Liberal government has been in power for less than a month, I believe it is far too early to blame “Trudeau” for the economic downturn, Keystone XL, or anything at all, really, but I do not see value in pointing out the inaccuracies of the meme you posted, since you couldn’t be bothered to Google it before you shared it.

I firmly believe that all children (without medical conditions or allergies that make it unsafe) should be vaccinated. But I know you are firmly opposed to vaccinations, and nothing I say will persuade you otherwise. (And our kids will likely never meet, so I do not expect to be directly impacted by your decision.)

I am an atheist, but I do not see any harm in the picture and Bible verse that you shared and, though I don’t believe they have any effect, your indication that you are “sending me your prayers” is a lovely sentiment, and so I see no reason to open up a theological discussion at this time.

I do not believe there is a “War on Christmas”, but when you wish me, “Merry Christmas,” or, “Happy Holidays,” or, “Happy Hanukkah,” you are saying something kind, and so my response will always be to thank you and wish you the same.

I thought your post was racist, homophobic, mean, bigoted, and/or otherwise hateful. But, perhaps this was out of character for you, or perhaps we have other things in common, or perhaps I enjoy other content that have previously posted, or perhaps we are family or have a friendship that has spanned decades, or perhaps I think it is important to expose myself to views different from my own on occasion, or perhaps I have other reasons. Regardless, I do not delete you from my “friends” list and do not hide your posts from my newsfeed.

Please, do not take my lack of response to your, in my opinion, ignorant Facebook post as agreement or acceptance. I simply choose to restrict my social media activities to humble-brags about my kid, and silly anecdote and memes.

 

PS: Luke asked me to add that the reason he doesn’t have Facebook at all is that he would not be able to resist engaging and responding to everything that he sees, and we would probably lose friends because of it. (That’s not so say he holds the exact same views as I do on the above topics.)

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