Although I doubt I’m going to my upcoming high school reunion, perusing the Facebook page has been a blast. Lots of old familiar faces, with an emphasis on the “old.”
One guy, who will remain nameless because I’m about to cast aspersions, especially caught my attention. We were in school together all the way through, twelve years. I had a crush on him in fifth grade. Course, I had a crush on a lot of guys in the fifth grade.
Anyway, there was his smiling face and without thinking, I clicked the Friend button. A few minutes later, I was confirmed and decided to visit his page.
You can tell a lot from the places someone visits. He lives in Florida now. Let’s see – Sand Trap Bar, Roo’s Pub, Party Central, Sail Inn Bar, Heads and Tails Lounge . . . all over a twenty hour period. Hmmm. Either this guy is a busy peanut salesman or we may have an issue here. It’s not even a weekend.
Lots of baseball and beer posts. Yawn.
Uh-oh.
Strike one: Posting a photo of a typical traffic tie-up on the D.C. Beltway (which is actually from 2008) and claiming that the Truckers for the Constitution have shut down the city and the liberal media is hushing it up. Well, I don’t know, I guess there are worse things than conservative conspiracy theorists. I have a few other Facebook Friends like that.
Traffic in 2008 that has nothing to do with the fact that only a couple of truckers showed up to “shut down D.C.” last weekend.
Strike two: A photo of a red and white Obama urinal-target poster with an additional comment, “Let’s impeach the Kenyan!” Don’t tell me he’s one of these guys who thinks Obama isn’t an American . . . oh, it gets even better: “Get the Taliban out of the White House!” Oh wow – here’s a photo of a dog taking a crap and the President of the United States is coming out of its rear end. Thanks for that. Seriously, this guy has retained his scatological fifth grade humor.
I’m kind of fascinated by people like this. I consider staying “friends” with him just to keep an eye on the breeding grounds for future Tea Party nut cases. But then:
A big strike three: He posts a photo of two young black guys in the VFW where he had gone to have a few quiet drinks with “people like him.” He leaves the VFW after protesting that they aren’t enforcing the veterans-only rule and should not welcome “self-entitled persons” like those pictured. He muses that the reason these guys don’t have a job is because they couldn’t pass drug tests. It apparently doesn’t occur to my ex-friend that the guys might be military. Or even employed.
African-American Soldier
I’m sorry to share this unpleasant story. Maybe you see a lot of this; I don’t, thank God. I just wanted to remind my white friends that racism is far from dead. People of color already know this. I won’t even go into the comments from this guy’s other “friends.” Suffice to say, the N Word is alive and unashamed in Florida.
Unfriend.
African-American President: Get Over It
Official White House Obama photo by Pete Souza
Colin Powell photo in public domain
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Writing with Spirit 
Oct 22, 2013 @ 11:16:46
I imagine, having gone to high school in Texas, that there are very few people from my past I’d want to have as Facebook friends, much less friends at all. People do sometimes tend to become pretty awful people.
Oct 22, 2013 @ 11:34:38
True – I should have thought twice. The one thing I remember about this guy — other than that I had a crush on him — was that he sent an unpopular girl a Valentine card in sixth grade and signed it with some other guy’s name. She thought he liked her. It was an awful thing to do. Guess he hasn’t changed much!
Oct 21, 2013 @ 09:08:48
For a guy like this one, I’ll do the same too. Unfriend. Some employers go around facebook to know more about their prospective applicants.
Oct 21, 2013 @ 09:35:25
You mean look at your friends? Yipes! I’d better start unfriending more often! I have an eclectic bunch. 🙂
Oct 21, 2013 @ 09:06:19
I can be pretty judgmental, but any one of your strikes would have been enough. As I get older, I have less time for people without critical thinking skills – from any political party. Recitation of urban legend, scurrilous oft-repeated quips and verbatim one-liners can be real turn offs. Why anyone would allow themselves to be a walking cliche is beyond me.
Oct 21, 2013 @ 09:34:09
I know – but somehow people like that do fascinate me from a psychological perspective. I’m constantly amazed that they manage to have friends and family (this guy has apparently blown that, though). More remarkably, they are often elected to Congress these days.
Oct 21, 2013 @ 09:51:12
I’d laugh, except that it’s true.
Oct 21, 2013 @ 09:05:22
What was the name of the former crcc guy we saw yesterday? So scarry guys you wrote about do exist. Nanci
Sent from my iPhone
Oct 21, 2013 @ 09:06:56
Dave Morris or Morrison, I think the former. He usually sat in or near the front row on the left as you walked in. FYI, to others: this post is NOT about Dave; that’s another conversation!