Facebook, God and Politics

I joined Facebook back in 2009 for two reasons.  As somewhat of a computer geek, I wanted to know what all the fuss was about.  And my wife, Muri, had been hearing things about our daughter, Amy, from her already-member friends.  I was tasked with seeing how it worked so I could show her.  Later on I would also add a page for Older Eyes, my alter ego and author of my blog, hoping to increase its readership.  In six years, I have accumulated 105 friends, which makes my alter ego feel inferior … he has only 38 likes. If you’d like to help him out, hop over to Older Eyes page, here, and like it. Most of my FB friends are family and real friends from here in Socal. There are a handful of people I’ve met blogging and a few friends from my high school days that I’ve reconnected with. Then there are some who I don’t know or how we ended up friends … a few even accepted friend requests from me that I don’t recall sending.  I suppose that’s fine.

Faith and Facebook

I enjoy Facebook.  At least once a day, I check my Facebook page.  I do that because it helps me keep up with old friends I never see because I’m a transplant from the New England to the West Coast.  It lets me see pictures of my grandkids now that they are farther away in Utah.  I get to see pictures of friends’ grandkids and cute pets.  I see inspirational stories and sayings that (sometimes) help me get through the day and (sometimes) annoy me, depending on my mood.  There are funny stories and pictures.

Algebra

I found this posted on FaceBook a few days ago and for some reason, it rubbed me the wrong way.   If you’ve been coming around here long enough to know something about me, you know I’m a scientist and you probably think, Algebra came easy to Older Eyes.  He doesn’t know what it’s like for the rest of us.  Just for the record, Algebra was not my best subject, nor was high school math in general.  High school math required too much memorization and provided too little evidence of usefulness to hold my attention.  My mathematical inclinations didn’t catch fire until I took calculus, which required not just memorization but understanding.   Since then, I’ve taken more math than some math majors.  My point is that while I understand that Algebra is not easy for everyone … and that many people have vocations that do not require knowledge of Algebra … the notion that anyone in this technology-based society doesn’t use Algebra … or for that matter, calculus, statistics, finite mathematics and dozens of other mathematical fields … is misguided.   Things we use daily, from our vehicles to the techie-toys we have come to depend on were developed using algebra and other higher mathematics and, in fact, their operation depends upon mathematical principles.

So.  You can say you hate algebra.  You can say it was hard for you and you wonder why you had to take it.  You can say, My job doesn’t require knowledge of algebra or higher math.  But please DON’T say, I don’t use algebra.  You use it every day.  There.  Now, I feel better.

Know Thyself ??

There are three things extremely hard: steel, diamond and to know one’s self – Benjamin Franklin

The maxim Know Thyself was inscribed on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi and has been widely quoted … with a variety of meanings … by philosophers.  According to Wikipedia, it can be seen as a warning against false pride, against boasting beyond what you actually are or it can be a warning not to pay attention to the opinion of others.  It can be read as a prescription for true humility, knowing your true place in the universe, by knowing both your strengths and weaknesses.  It can be a warning against hubris, against overbearing pride and comparing oneself to God.   Regardless of how it’s interpreted, I suspect most would agree with Ben Franklin … it’s hard to achieve.  It’s the reason we have aisles of self-help books in Barnes and Noble and the reason we have therapists and philosopher.  It’s the reason religions offer opportunities (sometimes taken) for introspection and why 12-Step programs offer searching and fearless moral inventories (sometimes taken).  Until now, anyway.

Peeves. Large and Small.

You may have noticed that someone’s been missing here from Older Eyes – Bud’s Blog for a while.  That would be my cranky alter-ego, my Inner Curmudgeon.   But he’s back with some pet peeves, from small ones like internet ads and Facebook to big ones like the current over-reaction to Africa’s Ebola outbreak in the U.S.

1.  Internet video ads that play automatically when I navigate to a page: I understand that advertising drives the internet these days, but as a music lover who sometimes leaves his speakers on LOUD, I’ve been practically knocked out of my chair by some loudmouthed bozo selling some product or other.  I assure you, my response has never been, Oh, I think I’ll buy one of those.

Critical Mass

It’s Tuesday.   Top Sites Tuesday #208 and the subject is Facebook.  I am a casual Facebook user.   Bud has his personal page, here, and his alter ego, Older Eyes, has a page here.   I (Bud) post on Facebook a few times a week, maybe a family picture or something I saw at the park.  Once in a while, I’ll link to an article I found interesting.  Everything I (Older Eyes) post on Older Eyes – Bud’s Blog shows up on Older Eyes page and because Bud likes Older Eyes (it would be quite odd if he didn’t, don’t you think?), Older Eyes’ posts show up on Bud’s home page, too.  Sometimes if I (Bud) especially like one of my (Older Eyes’) posts, I comment and share it on my (Bud’s) timeline.  Got it?   I (Bud) have never worried about having a million Facebook friends.  I almost never ask anyone to friend me and I pretty much ignore Facebook’s suggested friends of friends.  As a result, in four years on Facebook, I’ve gathered only 74 friends.  In the Facebook world, that makes me somewhat of a recluse, I suppose.  Older Eyes?  Well, he has only nineteen likes but he doesn’t get out much.  He’d appreciate if you’d drop by and like him, though.   Being a blogger under a pseudonym gets to be a little like having a split personality, don’t you think?

Facebook Follies

You may have noticed that I don’t post very often about politics … and when I do, I try to keep it politics in general, not the partisan crap.  That might make you think that I’m apolitical but you’d be very wrong.  I am quite opinionated.  But I’ve reached a place in my life where I trust my own judgement enough to be comfortable with my opinions on politics and I have no desire to discuss them with those who might try to convince me I’m wrong.   And as I’m sure you know, by the time you finish typing Limbaugh … or Obama … online, some zealot will be all over you.   For the record, I am a semi-retired small businessman who would like our government to be small business friendly.   I am inclined to be capitalist, libertarian and fiscally conservative.   I’ve mentioned before that I stay away from online message boards because I’m also inclined to post passionate responses to idiotic political posts (here, idiotic = diametrically opposed to my opinion, passionate = my opinion).

Older Eyes and Facebook

I first joined Facebook when Muri’s friends knew things about our daughter’s family before we did.  They’re reading about them on Facebook, she told me.  Do you think you could get me on it?    I joined to figure out how it worked then signed Muri up.  It was interesting to see our daughter on her Facebook page … it often seemed like a completely different person than the one talking to us on the phone.  An easier, happier person.  Then, the friend requests started to show up.  I’d heard about people reconnecting with old friends …  I even searched my high school and college.  Mostly, I got local 12-Step friends and acquaintances.   Family consisted of my brother and his wife plus a few nieces.  The grown children of a few old friends turned up as well as some friends of my daughter.   Why in the world they wanted to Friend me I didn’t know.  But I never thought of it as a competition.   One young woman I coached on my daughter’s soccer team sent me a message telling me what a wonderful coach I was … along with a friend request, which I accepted.  She turned out to be a prolific poster who flooded my page with stories and pictures I had no interest in seeing.   Her posts are now hidden.  I started refusing friends.  Is that a Facebook faux pas?   For one, I drew the line at children of nieces and nephews … and at grandsons.  I love the little urchins but I don’t want censor what I post … or piss off aunts, uncles and daughters.

Hit-and-Run

Years ago, shortly after 9-11, when online message boards were spilling over with fearful posts and dire predictions, I began posting as The Voice of Reason.  My posts were more or less the same each time: Don’t panic.  The chances of being killed in a terrorist attack are miniscule.  You’d extend your life more effectively by being tested for cancer than hoarding Cipro for an anthrax attack that will never come.  My posts would quickly disappear in the flow of paranoia on the boards, but occasionally I’d find a reply from someone grateful for my reassurance.

Friday Favorites 3/23/2012

Like my blogging friend, Cheryl, of The Art of Being Conflicted, I am not a Facebook Fanatic but I don’t see it as the root of all evil, either.   However, having a dual identity on line … Bud Reed and Older Eyes … gives me a split Facebook  personality.  On my personal page, I post family pictures and little bits of trivia I think might be interesting.   Very occasionally, I’ll post about a cause or charity I support.   I keep track of what’s going on with friends and family around the country.  I’m a fairly low-key user.  As Older Eyes (on his own personal page), most posts are from our WordPress Blog, Older Eyes.  In order for people to see the posts on Older Eyes’ page, they have to go to the page and Like him … er, me.   Only 13 people have Liked the Old Fellow, so sometimes I help him out (as Bud) by sharing his posts on my (Bud’s) page.  Naturally, I (Bud) have taken the time to Like him (Older Eyes) so all his posts appear on my  page, along with my reposts.  You can see how this gets confusing.