Recently, I started a facebook page. I did so mostly to be able to communicate with my son quickly –at least that was my plan. I don’t know that much has changed with our communications patterns but in the process I experienced something else entirely new.
A friend of mine, who is a conservative radio talk show host ( we rarely discuss politics these days) also recently started a facebook page. She instantly had hundreds of friends. I received a request from someone on her page to be a friend. This person indicated that she too was a writer. Always looking to make new connections I befriended her. We exchanged a few brief comments and then I was tagged. While looking around her page, I came across a photo of Obama. I saw that there was something on the photo and out of curiosity I clicked on it to get a better look. The words and the hatred that spewed forth from those words was startling and all I could think about was that I had allowed this person access to me and my friends.
I asked my daughter how I could remove this person. Her response, filled with amused disbelief at my question, simply stated: delete her. Wow! Just like that delete her. But then I worried, what would this woman think and what might she do if I deleted her. She was, after all, not quite what I had hoped for in a new friend. So, I have a new quandary, do I find out more about her or do I delete her. Click and you are instantly deleted! That feels so very final to me. But, then I think of the photo on her page which she thought was wonderful and I ask, is there really anything else to consider…
