Has the Internet or Facebook destroyed respect and courtesy?

Before Facebook, people could not hide behind an icon/avatar. They would have to be man/woman enough to look you in the eyes and call you a stupid idiot. That takes a lot of guts to do and perhaps the self-destructive desire to be smacked in the face with a fist.

Think about that as you sit around the table this Thanksgiving, with your relatives who you used to just see on holidays and now can ‘speak’ to daily on Facebook.

Would you really have said any of the following to them, in person?

“You voted against God. You voted for the death of people.”

“You are lazy, live on welfare, housing assistance, food stamps and will make our system implode.”

“Before the election, you promised to riot, cause mass destruction and violence and assassinate ….”

The above quotes are atributed, originally to a Kimber Chitwood and forwarded to me on Facebook, by relatives, who I am pretty sure would never say any of that to my face.

I may disagree with your vote, but I would never denegrate the way you vote or your right to vote.

On a personal side, from people who would do sit across from me at Thanksgiving Dinner, I was told, on Facebook:

“…watched Jerry springer for a second and we were like damn these ppl are stupid. He (husband) said, “Well here ya go hunny, these are the ppl who must’ve voted!”

“…those of us who voted for Romney are educated enough to develop a plan of action to get Obama out of office. There are just a lot more uneducated people in America today.”

They are saying this to an Edmund J. James scholar and Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society member with six years of college under her belt.  I’m hardly uneducated nor stupid.

And, that is only two entries. For months now, I have felt like I was personally attacked because my politics doesn’t agree with their politics.  Do I think I am right, “well, of course.” Do I think they are wrong, “yes.”  Do I think they are stupid because of the way they vote, “NO.” That is who they are and what a sad boring ‘Stepford Wife’ world we would live in if we all believed the same way.

This country was founded on checks and balances to stop one belief system having all of the power. If you cannot accept that, and need to denigrate the other belief than yours in a personal way, then you have a problem.

I’m told not to take it personally, but my belief system is who I am.  How do you take being told you are an idiot? Do you take it personally?

“We are an American family and we rise or fall together as one nation,” said a wise man.

So, what do you think?  Are people forgetting they are texting/tweeting/facebook(ing)?? to other human beings? Are they losing courtesy? Have they lost respect?  Is this the downfall of man? Let me know what you think.

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