It’s a Sunday morning here LA. It is cold for LA and raining too, so I’m reading Facebook and the news. I have some thoughts on Facebook because of a Mashable article, 5 ways to take control of your Facebook News Feed.
As a general rule, I keep a wide array of Facebook friends from within all aspects of the atheist community. I rarely unfollow, although I do so if the atheist in question is stupid. I don’t have time in my life for stupid. I don’t think many of us do. I also unfollow those who e-beg, be it people who dream of being Youtube barons or those who simply cannot pay the rent. My reasons are simple, in the case of the wannabe Youtube barons, I think it helps develop the equivalent of an atheist version of professional clergy. I’m not a fan of being an atheist first and then something else. I prefer the title of writer, photographer or project manager who happens to be an atheist. In the case of those who e-beg because they cannot pay the rent, I have no way of determining if their needs are real, so I prefer not to participate.
In some cases I unfollow Facebook friends. It usually starts with the words “Trigger Warning” and is followed by some obviously controversial topic meant to incite an argument simply for the sake of arguing and… weeding out the ideologically impure. I unfollow because I don’t want to read it, nor do I want to be sucked into the stupidity of publicly vilifying a fellow atheist over his or her position on a controversial issue.
I don’t think the atheist community on Facebook is a good place to hang out, so I rarely do. It beats Reddit though…
