Note: This post was originally written June 30, 2011. I just found it, unpublished.

Facebook’s out, at least for now. I’m done messing with it for a while. If you’re seeing this on Facebook, that’s simply because I have an automagic feed set up from years ago to publish my blog posts as notes on Mr. Zuckerberg’s Wondrous Money-Maker. If you’d like to see the original blog posts with photos and everything, just go to www.radloffs.net and click on “Blog.”

There are myriad reasons why I’m going to go back to blogging in lieu of Facebooking, but the main reason is that I’m simply fed up with arguing with people who are strong on opinions but weak on facts and logic. I hate to say it, but I’m feeling kinda, well, bullied into silence. Whenever I’d say anything remotely political I’d get hammered – often with arguments no more sophisticated than a regurgitation of yesterday’s FOX opinions*. I’m not sure whatever happened to “free speech” in America, but it seems I’m having problems with it…

Don’t get me wrong – everyone is entitled to an opinion. The problem is that I find myself wondering if everyone SHOULD be entitled to an opinion. When a professor studies politics and history, he reads books, studies philosophy, dig into the backgrounds of political thoughts and movements, has a grasp of political trends and shifts throughout history and what the consequences of those trends have been. I’d be more apt to listen to his opinion than that of someone who no education, no background in history, who gets his ideas from the talking heads on television rather than from his own study, whose political views are more a reflection of their personal insecurities than of a broad worldview… Yet on Facebook both are given equal time.

I’m tired of everything being an argument. I’m tired of having people think their opinion is fact. I’m tired of people believing their opinions mean more than facts.

Not too long ago I put out a plea for compromise, a call for Democrats and Republicans to work together for the betterment of the United States. Oddly enough, people argued with me. There’s a knee-jerk reaction to fight violently for “your side,” be it progressive or conservative. People forget that “your side” and “my side” are one and the same – America.

My wife and I were talking to an eleven-year-old boy about professional football. He liked the Vikings, thought Green Bay was okay, but when my wife mentioned she used to watch the Washington team when she lived in D.C., the boy jumped to his feet angrily. “I would never want to live in Washington,” he said. “That’s too close to that Barack Obama.” Hatred flashed in his eyes. Hatred from… what? Where does an 11-year-old learn to hate a politician? It would be a rare 11-year-old to hold a truly informed opinion about such matters. I’m glad the boy is aware enough of his country to know who the President is and seems to be interested, but I’m sad that those who are teaching him seem to be teaching him party division rather than independent, critical thought. Would I have been equally upset had he jumped up and said, “I’d love to live in Washington – I might be able to meet President Obama”? No, probably not. While no President is deserving of blind devotion, all Presidents are worthy of our respect.

*Did you know that FOX News is banned in Canada? They have laws against people lying on TV. It came up for a vote not too long ago, and the people of Canada overwhelmingly opted to keep the law as it is rather than let a FOX-style news show go on the air.

Note: This post was originally written June 30, 2011. I just found it, unpublished.