Facebook....

Don't know what it is about the Facebook thing that can be so addictive, but there you have it. Millions of people loggin in and reading the statuses and postings and musings of other people who are going somewhere and doing something or making an announcement or whatever. You post stuff, you share stuff, you make friends, you de-friend, you stalk peoples profiles, you post pictures, you look at pictures, you put up a funny something, you start arguments and debates, you console, you comment, you say "hi" and poke, you wish people a happy birthday, you "talk" to people and communicate and all sorts of other stuff and more.... And with people all over the world, that quite honestly, in real life, without Facebook, you probably never would have met.  All of this would be impossible. Some of what you read is stupid, others informative. Some of it is inane or silly or funny or sad or happy or infuriating. You can share views and opinions on all manner of things. A virtual community that erased the lines of country borders and the miles between them. How fucking cool is that shit!

As cool as this Facebook thing is though, there is a darker side to it. I know. It's true of all things. It's unfortunate, but there you have it. Cyber bullying and general threats made to people because of race, creed, color, religion, belief structure, or even of an opinion made. You've got seedy people doing seedy things. Everything from starting hate groups of a person (or a group of people, or a whole entire race of people) to the "liking" and displaying of animal torture, child porn, rape and all sort of other things that would make the normal person's skin crawl.

I go back and forth trying to figure out if Facebook is a good thing or a bad thing. On the one hand, here I am communicating with people from around the world, and I think it's fantastic. I get to see the world through the eyes of the people who are actually living in the places I can only hope and dream of going to visit one day. We are able to share and exchange ideas and thoughts and opinions and pictures and communicate in a way that twenty years ago was unheard of.

Then you get the darker side. If those great things are true of "well intentioned" people, it's also true of those who aren't "well intentioned" too. Thinking about the kind of atrocious "information" that can instantly be passed back and forth between dreadful people.... It kind of freaks me out.

I can come up with so many reasons why Facebook is so fucking cool, but on the other hand, I can come up with so many reasons why it's not..... And my imagined reasons as to why it's not is sometimes MORE scary than the realities that Facebook has been known to be used for. I would LOVE to think that, in the near future, Facebook is going to deal with the more "unsavory elements". I can only hope and pray that these "unsavory elements" meet an untimely and horrible death. In the meantime, I have to weigh and measure the pros and cons of this Facebook thing knowing that I've met some AWESOME people that I get to communicate with on a very convenient venue, but also knowing that I may be supporting and enabling some VERY "unsavory elements" while doing so..... Food for thought people.....