NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION. It’s never too late and I don’t have a sterling record for making good on New Year’s resolutions. Nevertheless, in the interest of lower blood pressure I’ll try.
I am addicted to Facebook. I like pics of kids and pets and people’s vacations or hunting trips or hobbies. I like some recipes, and places to eat; Hog talk. Stuff like that.
What I do not like is that more and more people are ‘sharing’ partisan posts from sources they know nothing about. The Russians are now famous for developing sites that are aimed at making Americans mad at each other. My opinion is that too many of us are getting our ‘news’ from these ‘expert’ sites and not from reliable sources like The Associated Press, which is where I try to get most of my information.
I avoid satellite channel and Internet-based sites where experts and a sanctimonious host discuss some their views (usually negative) on some current event or politician.
These folks generally have a vested interest in making one side mad. Maybe both sides. It’s how they make a living.
I recently saw an Associated Press article which said that older, more conservative Americans tend to share false information on Facebook more than young folks or persons who might be a bit more liberal.
My own observation is that this is true.
This is important: The AP article said that the shared Facebook stuff is less about one’s belief in facts and more about signaling one’s partisanship.
Efforts to correct fake stuff don’t change those attitudes and don’t stop the flow of false information. I remember reading an article that said that an out-of-country white man had the most popular Black Lives Matter site. The contents were aimed at making black folks madder at white folks, and white folks madder at black folks.
This guy did not have America’s best interests at heart.
Well, I really can’t do anything about those posts other than to shake my head and pray for a better day.
Oh yeah, there was something else I could do. I could make some smart-aleck comeback which in essence was that my Facebook friend’s shared post was Cuckoo.
After awhile I got worse. I tended to (figuratively) shout my retorts. Along the way I unfollowed some folks and blocked some sites they ‘shared.’ It didn’t stop the flow. Didn’t even slow it down.
I have lots of senior, conservative friends, and they share a lot of sites with Facebook friends, therefore they share with me.
But I’m gonna stop participating in this to-and-fro Civil War.
I’m going to TRY to overlook the partisan posts.
I’ll try. I’ve always been a weak person, so there is no guarantee.
Because I’m addicted and may begin shouting before I can get a grip on myself.
If we’re friends on Facebook let me know how I’m doing. Let me know if I’ve been shouting at you. Or if I’ve quit.
•••••
WHO’S LISTENING? AND WHY? Sunday evening I got a call from the respiratory therapy department telling me that my CPAP device was working well and that they wanted me to get a letter from the doctor stating my continued need for the machine.
I asked: How do you know it’s working?
“We monitor it.”
For those who are fortunate not to know, a CPAP device is something to help a geezer get some sleep without snoring.
My CPAP is right beside my bed, obviously, and someone from the respiratory therapy department was figuratively sitting at my shoulder, listening all night long.
I wanted to ask if they recognized the pattern on my pajamas. Or did I even sleep in pajamas? Were they just listening, or watching, too?
I wanted to ask if I talked in my sleep, and if it was interesting.
And of course I’ve got Alexa in my kitchen. She’s always listening but half the time she doesn’t understand what I ask. It’s my boondocks hillbilly accent, I’m fairly sure.
The scary thing is that she is listening 24 hours a day, seven days a week. She’s not on government furlough during the shutdown.
Alexa, I wanted to ask, do you ever gossip with the CPAP machine about my dull life?
“I don’t understand the question,” she’d answer. “You’ve got an awful boondocks hillbilly accent.”
•••••
THINGS I LEARNED from opening (and believing) email. If you are an average American, in your whole life, you will spend an average of 6 months waiting at red lights.
•••••
WORD GAMES. Another set of twins: Agony and Ecstacy. They’re about as far apart as you can get, yet they’re friends on Facebook.
•••••
HE SAID: “You are capable of more than you know. Choose a goal that seems right for you and strive to be the best, however hard the path. Aim high. Behave honorably. Prepare to be alone at times, and to endure failure. Persist! The world needs all you can give.” E.O. Wilson, world’s leading authority on the common ant
•••••
SHE SAID: “When you wake up each morning, you can choose to be happy or choose to be sad. Unless some terrible catastrophe has occurred the night before, it is pretty much up to you. Tomorrow morning, when the sun shines through your window, choose to make it a happy day.” Lynda Resnick, billionaire businesswoman
•••••
SWEET DREAMS, Baby
