My main Facebook feed is not normally populated by too much in the way of politics. Sure, I have a couple political “friends,” i.e. people who friended me via some political forums, who have 4999 other friends and post politics 50x a day, but they can be counted on one hand, and their constant stream can be perused or ignored. And, sure, I belong to several closed political groups, but, again, they are an ecosystem apart. My main feed, where I am friends with actual friends and acquaintances, tends to be more about people’s daily doings, about jokes, about cute animals and silly “get a load of this” stuff.
Every so often, though, some share their feelings about a particular current event, thus spoiling the pristine-ness of that space. It’s OK, it’s part of what Facebook and the Internet are about, and I am as free to peruse or ignore as I am any of the other content I see.
What is of interest is the predictability of these posts. The increase in tensions with North Korea has elicited posts of the flavor “gee, thanks Trump voters for World War III,” and the white supremacist rally and counter-rally that escalated into terrible violence and death yesterday has elicited posts of the flavor “gee, thanks Trump voters for bringing back the Nazis.”
The overt guilt-by-association fallacy in such posts does not dignify a rebuttal, although it’s all too easy to fall into the trap of going defensive at such a blatant ad hominem. What does warrant consideration is the casual grotesqueness exhibited here.
Would you remain friends with someone who got in your face at a party and said “you’re the reason that white supremacists feel empowered to spew their hate?” Would you tolerate 10% of the stuff people write on the Internet if they said it directly at you? Sure, the excuse is “well, I don’t mean you! I’m talking about the rubes and stupid people.” But, really, why would we assume there’s a carve-out for us in statements of broad, hyperbolic condemnation? While I didn’t vote for Trump, I have plenty of friends who considered my vote for Gary Johnson a de facto vote in Trump’s favor (a argument I rebut here).
The reason we stay friends with those who exhibit this behavior is the tacit understanding that they’re simply exhibiting internet muscles, that they’re the equivalent of a five foot tall, 100 lb woman in a giant SUV flipping the bird at someone who supposedly wronged her on the highway.
None of this diminishes the very real issue of North Korean belligerence or the very real, disgusting behavior of the white supremacists. However, none of it invites discussion either. It’s not meant to. Not discussion about Fat Boy, his nukes, how he got them and what to do about them, or discussion about a pack of assholes and their hatred, but discussion about the election of Trump and the reasons he defeated Clinton. The latter is the real challenge behind the accusations. It’s continued denial of their side’s political failures (plural) in favor of an exaggerated “we told you so!” playground whine.
The people they know who voted for Trump didn’t do so because they felt he’d usher in an era of white power or Nazi ideology. Sure, there are people who want that who voted for him, but there are black separatists who voted for Obama and radical, men-should-be-abolished feminists who voted for Clinton. None of those votes reflect on others’ votes, and it’s a cheap and transparent insult to suggest they do.
The other half of “internet muscles” is the choosing of safe displays. No one other than a Nazi is going to defend some asshole waving a Nazi flag around, and complainers are not impressing anyone when they display outrage at Illinois Nazis, or Charlottesville white supremacists, or a chubby tin-pot dictator who suddenly (no thanks to decades of appeasement) has the ability to wreak nuclear destruction. We all know these people suck. The great sin is accusing friends of supporting them.
Well, not “great sin,” really. Truth be told, I know they don’t really think their Trump-voting friends are Nazis, even if their rhetoric takes it that far. There are people who do, but normal folks aren’t friends with them. Truth be told, I know these are slactivism, Internet muscles, and virtue signaling. Unfortunately, these types of preening displays have taken the place of actual conversation and debate, and, unfortunately, they serve more to alienate than unite.
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