Post Election Facebook Status Updates

This past Tuesday marked a historical moment in all of American history. Senator Barack Obama won the race for the 2008 President Elect position. Chances are if you took a peek at your Facebook friends' status updates post election you may have encountered some surprising responses. I know in my news feed I saw a number of anti-Obama comments like "oh no, the socialist won - time to move to Canada or Europe" and that's no where near the worst of it.

We've been discussing the campaigns, the candidates, and the election in every one of our classes to the point that many of us are tired of hearing about it but people are still going to have things to say. Facebook is a place where people know they can sound off. I do feel as though everyone should have the right to voice their opinions whether it be via their Facebook or elsewhere. I found this editorial on Jezebel which brings up some interesting points on the aftermath of post election facebook status updates.

Status updates, the Facebook method of broadcasting one's thoughts or mood out to the world, became filled with hateful rhetoric, putting some Facebook users in an incredibly awkward position: "Do I de-friend this person?" "Do I engage this person?" And perhaps the most puzzling question of all, "How did I become friends with this person in the first place?"

- hortense of Jezebel

So what's a Facebook friend to do? If you really feel so inclined to de-friend someone because their political views may not match up to yours, then do so. But if not, just realize that all social media is an open forum for people of all different ways of thinking to interact and join in on the conversation, especially of such important issues as our next President.