Southern Twist

Although somewhat unrelated to politics, I had an experience over the weekend that seemed to validate my opinion that many members of the so-called right-wing are indeed uninformed fanatics.

I have a page at Facebook where I keep in contact with family members and friends. On occasion I accept friend "requests" from people I don't know only if they happen to be existing friends of family members or other friends. Anyone who has a page at Facebook knows this is standard operating procedure. I try to be careful about it because I don't want some loony tune leaving me messages all the time. Thankfully, Facebook makes that impossible unless a friend request is accepted.

Over the weekend one of my so-called friends made a joke about the death of Michael Jackson, and I left a short comment that it was in poor taste. I'm not much of a celebrity-follower or fan of pop music (I lean toward rock and roll), but the "plastic" joke and lack of respect for the dead offended me. No matter what one's personal opinion of Jackson, there was no denying that the man had extraordinary talent. Besides, he was never convicted of any crime in a court of law. That used to mean something until tabloid reporting came to the fore.

At any rate, someone else left a comment following mine that ranted about Jackson being a pedophile and a sick pervert that deserved to die. This person went on to proudly proclaim that he was a SOUTHERN (uppercase used by him) conservative and that most southerners saw the world differently than the rest of us.

No kidding?

The "commenter" came off as bigoted, uneducated and blissfully oblivious. Like many people influenced by tabloid reporting and entertainment television media, he assumes Jackson guilty even though twelve jurors found him innocent of multiple charges four years ago. Rush to judgment and embellishment of the truth seems to be easier for the uninformed rather than digging for valid facts before speaking.

Kind of like Republicans in the political spectrum, aye?

Another convenient feature at Facebook is the ability to delete friends when the need arises.