Stick A Fork In Me

You know what I’m tired of? 

Everything.

After an exhausting political week filled with hate and anger and finger pointing and name calling and back biting coming from all sides, and another week looming ahead, promising to be just as soul-sucking…Stick a fork in me. I’m done. 

Never in my life have I wanted to move to a remote cabin in the woods with my little family (as long as Amazon Prime could find me and it had electricity, central heat, a gas stove, and Trader Joes within driving distance). Every four years I get a little crazed and start researching extended stay vacation homes in Canada but this election cycle feels a little more manic than the rest.

It seems as if we are in a damned-if-we-do-damned-if-we-don’t situation. If the candidate that I think is absolutely vile wins in November, I’m honestly fearful for our country. On the other hand, if the candidate that I think is a little less vile wins in November, I’m honestly fearful for our country. Either way, come November, half of us are going to be cleaning up all the brains from the other half of the nation’s heads exploding. It’s not going to be pretty. 

Canada is looking pretty great right now.

The biggest reason I want to escape to my shabby chic cottage in the woods (with a washer and dryer) is Facebook. There are some people in my FB feed who I have come to expect ugliness from. They don’t bother me that much because I know they are nutter and don’t expect anything less. They are just the white noise and can be hidden.

It’s the normally sane, normally loving, normally reasonable people whose comments and opinions hurt the deepest and are most disappointing.

Now, I know we are all entitled to our own opinion. Absolutely, by all means, freedom of speech is part of what makes us American. But with the great power of the personal freedoms that we have come to enjoy and expect comes great responsibility. Social media has made it all too easy to share our opinions without consideration or regard for anyone else. The safety of the computer screen and 24-hour news cycle telling us what we want to hear has desensitised us to the feelings and opinions of those who think differently that we do.

Don’t mistake me; I’m no angel. I’ve done my fair share of sharing and spouting off and I sincerely apologize for any offense. I try to share things honestly but also be considerate of who may be reading, but can get carried away just like every other reasonable person.

In preparation for another soul-sucking week of political social media, I’ve considered taking a complete break. Turning the TV off, closing up shop on FB and deleting the app (I said considering, nothing is set in stone).

I need a social media app that only allows pictures of chubby babies, videos of kitties chasing lasers and Snoop Dog narrating mongooses chasing off alligators. I need an app that only allows videos of delicious and weird recipes, flash mobs and people doing good deeds for a stranger. 

Could the powers that be at FB invent some sort of jack-ass filter? Until then, stick a fork in me.