Timeline issues…

It’s January and I don’t teach as many classes as I normally would during the year thanks to living in the southern hemisphere where summer months are December to February. So I have more time to be online, research material for classes, read articles and, inevitably, check Facebook. I think this site, along with Twitter, are great news aggregators and makes it much easier to read articles since you don’t have to access each one of the news websites you normally read. In my list of “likes,” for instance, I have The Guardian, NYT, The New Yorker, TED, Global Post, to name a few. These sites always post interesting articles, such as this one about mondegreens (I had no idea what that was), or this about the decline in the use of definite article “the” — as an EFL teacher, it’s impossible not to be interested in this kind of stuff.

I also like to see the funny things from South Park and American Dad! in my timeline, as well as selected clips from The Daily Show. I also tend to “like” Facebook friends’ businesses, but only if they have something to do with what I’m genuinely interested in.

Then there’s the “funny” (emphasising the air quotes) stuff. Those people that just share every single stupid video of a guy falling, or a cat jumping, or a dog barking, or whatever else they find funny or cute. There are the people with the memes, just sharing one after another. Some are okay, very few are laugh-worthy, most are just dumb.

I start to get annoyed with the religious posts from people that want to convert you no matter what. Hey, I’m not against anybody’s choice of religion, people are free to follow and believe in whatever they want, but the sharing of prayers, saints, blessings from whatever religion is something that I just wish I could say once and for all: No, thank you!

But nothing gets more in my nerves than political vitriol. This normally would translate into a Fox News reference, since oftentimes in the past I posted about the channel and its unbelievable partisan discourse. I’ve been Fox News-free for almost two years now — after the only cable company that carried the channel inexplicably decided to drop it in 2013 — but I assumed I was immunised against the vitriol or at least that I knew how to handle the batshit crazy talking points. I guess I took everything for granted and I’ve realised now that I don’t have antibodies against the discourse in my timeline.

The last general election in Brazil was my first experiencing the full Facebook treatment. Every single minute one person, left or right, would post something usually demonising the other side. I hated to read about both sides because it wasn’t anything constructive, and I started to deeply dislike those who took a few minutes (adding up to hours) of their time to write such mean things. I wish I had read about their platforms and what they were REALISTICALLY planning to do about the several problems we have in the country and the state, but no, no, no… Why would they do such a thing? It easier to get people to make a passionate decision than an informed one.

The dislike escalated so much that I had no choice but to unfriend a couple of people, and I’m not a person that just keeps friending everybody and from time to time does a little spring cleaning, I only allow people that I really know or have met in person more than once or for professional reasons. What makes me sad is that I used to hang out with these people some 10 years ago, we were good friends, but I guess I was having so much fun drinking and dancing that I didn’t realise it!

The content is basically Fox News-like — attacks on the opposition and outrage when criticised — and what surprises me is that in Brazil it’s a leftwing practice. The right also gives its contribution, but they tend to be more moderate, more center-right. There are of course the few nuts that stand out, but I would say the tone isn’t as toxic. It’s a reversal of the American political system; bizarro politics, perhaps.

Being disappointed with all things politics in Brazil, since no matter who is in office will do everything to screw with people’s lives, I think I need to develop those antibodies fast or I’ll be suffering double the amount!

Indecision 2014 – same old shit

Just a few weeks ago Scotland decided not to break from the UK, with an almost 90% turnout, proving that people are willing to go to the polls when they are engaged in the process and believe in the political parties’ ideas and that they might have a better future if they cast a vote. Inspiration and motivation from the inside out, not outside in…

In Brazil, voting is mandatory, there’s no way to escape that; but what frustrates me the most is that we basically we have to choose from an array of candidates that range from the ones that have played musical chairs for decades — changing from seat to seat, from congressman to state representative, to senator, to governor and back to senator every two years — to the ones that are just borderline ridiculous — some actually cross the line.

This is the first year that I also follow the comments about the general election on Facebook, and it’s crazy to see the partisanship that’s taken place: the overly fanatic ones against the ones that say they’ve had enough. I used to be fanatic about some things, and it turns out it’s never good. There were some people who just polluted my timeline with political junk from all parties for the past several months, simply unbearable.

Over the years I have changed some of my political beliefs, others have become stronger; some issues are now more pressing than others, and I believe this is just part of getting old. I haven’t become a conservative, hell no; but I’m not the same person from 10-15 years ago and it saddens me that some people just keep believing the same shit fanatically year in and year out. How can these people just look around them and say that things are going great? They might argue that millions of people have left poverty, and this a great thing for sure; but what about the rest? I work until late most days of the week and am really afraid of getting on the bus home every night, violence has become commonplace. And what about taxes? Brazil is one of the most heavily-taxed countries in the world and also dead last in a list of 30 countries evaluated on taxation versus quality of services. Apart from high taxes, we have to pay for education and health care, fortify our houses and buildings, and wish to get home safe and sound.

On the other hand, there’s no solution. Whoever wins whatever position, being the incompetents and carrier politicians who seek reelection, being the “new faces” who are just a couple of years away from becoming corrupt after they realise it’s a free for all, it will never change. Using a phrase my sister wrote today: same shit, different flies.

So, don’t give me the “you’re exercising your right to vote” shit because it’s not a right, it’s an imposition. I want to exercise the right to DECIDE if somebody is worth my vote and trust.

And I have to go back for a runoff in three weeks…