To all my friends on social media I respect your right to hold a different political point of view than my own. That is a right we all have in an open democracy.
As the Canadian election winds up and the chaos south of the border increases I have come to a point of real concern. I enjoy political humour and opinion in social media but draw the line at fallacious lies and blatant untruths. Such material is designed to do little more than divide and alienate. Critical thinking and discussion fare far better in solving the problems we all face. “Us and them” only sets us all further apart.
When I backtrack where some posts on my thread originally come from, I am sometimes surprised I see material from very divisive sites (Rebel News, Briebart, Yellow Vests, Canada Proud, Sons of Odin and some undoubtedly non-Canadian sites).
Since my social media friends have pushed along the divisive beliefs I can only assume that they subscribe to them as well. It appears that I did not know them as well as I thought.
While open to honest political discussion I will continue to backtrack suspicious, hateful posts. When I find they contribute to the problem rather than the solution I will leave the poster without access to my news feed.
I would encourage others to do the same. Hate and dishonesty have no place on social media or anywhere else.
Ryan Lengsfeld
Nelson