Inaugural Post: Ending Facebook as my forum

I've never been much of a blog follower. When a Google search picked something interesting up, sure I'd hit it and follow the thread, but I didn't really see the need for blogs or bloggers. Two things changed my mind, though. First, I bumped into a couple of blogs that were perpetually relevant to my interests, generally aligned with my thought processes, and, most importantly, are written by intelligent and balanced individuals. Second, I realized, after a very long-winded comment-fest on Facebook, that I was actually already blogging.

A little over 2 years ago, my wife and I decided to join the Facebook craze. Our only compulsion for doing so was because we were bound for life in the UK, and Facebook seemed like a great vehicle for keeping up with everyone. It was and we did. For the first 6 months, I was a typical Facebooker, adding long-lost friends and classmates, playing goofy games, etc. Over time, though, I filtered it down to its base components so that I could get on, get the relevant information about people I actually cared and wanted to know anything about, and get off. When you synthesize Facebook down like that, you can really see who says plain stupid and/or incorrect things, who is far left/right, and the gross level of misinformation travelling through comments, like/dislikes, and statuses.

I didn't consciously set out to utilize Facebook as a way to spread my political views (which can be misleading because I often play devil's advocate) or incite debate, but, by my nature (highly skeptical, analytical, critical, diffuse, and unreserved) I couldn't let certain things slide. It's one thing to know someone is making uninformed decisions that only affect them (sort of) and another to see that translated to assertions that everyone sees on Facebook and may even "Like". While every battle can't be fought, I found myself slowly drawing upon the power of the comment to validate, denounce, expand, etc. For a while, I was secure in my cocoon of thinking that, really, only my family and closest friends are probably seeing this stuff, and they know I can't let go of a good verbal fight. Slowly but surely, though, from stray Facebook comment dropped in here and there, from people I never talked to, and actual conversations with extended friends and family, that I only see infrequently, I realized the audience was much larger than I suspected.

I went into a slow shock for a while. I didn't want to post to anyone that might get angry or get into debates that revealed too much detail about my personal views. But, once we returned to the U.S., after 18 months in the UK, I felt the old urges rising, especially when bullshit swirled around regarding the various Euro Zone economic crisis. To wrap this story up, I went back to my old ways, but I became much more judicious in selecting my targets and a bit more politically correct in my comment approach. A few months ago, though, a succession of long-winded "debates" convinced me that I might want to consider a different forum. That was the genesis of "Middle Of The Road".