When "Unfriending" Just Isn't Enough

Not too long ago, I removed a couple individuals from my Facebook list of friends because I just couldn't stomach the daily insensitive remarks about President Obama and the current administration. I'm very active on Facebook, and find it a wonderful way to share updates with family and friends who live all over the world. It's a fun way to keep in touch, and I look forward to reading little tidbits of my friends' daily lives. What I quickly got tired of was the individuals who would use Facebook as a way to gripe about political issues - - not just sharing their feedback or personal opinions, but by ripping people apart in the rudest, most demeaning ways. I'm all for freedom of speech, but this was ridiculous. I'd rather view twenty-odd pictures of their new dog, learn about what they ate for lunch, or read their results of the quiz, "Which Muppet are you?"

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So I "unfriended" (if there is such a word) those folks and felt good about it. No longer would I have to be insulted or disgusted by insensitive comments, and life on Facebook was good again. Until last night. After we returned from the lake, Pankaj was checking his Facebook page and came across some outrageous comments from one of the people I had removed from my friends list. He was even blown away by the remarks, and asked if I wanted to read them. I did read them, but now I wish I hadn't. The negative comments were directed towards various ethnic groups in our community (that is, other than Caucasian) who attended a local July 4th celebration which was promoted as a "multicultural event" in the first place. I will never repeat out loud what I read in that post, but it was a slap in the face for my own multicultural family. My interpretation of those comments is, "God bless America, but only the people who look like me." Pankaj quickly "unfriended" this person, but the damage was already done. Once you read comments like that, they are burned into your brain for life. What saddens me is that this person lives in our community, is someone we run into from time-to-time, and is probably a representation of what so many others in this area believe but never speak out loud. Personally, knowing now how this individual feels about people of different ethnic backgrounds, I hope it will be a LONG time before we run into each other again.