New Direction... Same Old Values

Today (December 20, 2016) I posted my last public comment on my personal Facebook profile.  That post is merely a link back to this blog posting.

It’s been a month now since I first told my wife I’ve decided to take a stand for decency & sanity in U.S. politics by applying for a position in the Trump administration.  It represents my first line of defense: from inside, while resolutely maintaining my values.  I know I stand a snowball’s chance in Hell of even being considered, much less being interviewed or selected.  Nonetheless, I will soon complete my application, offering my values, character, education, experience, and intelligence to help Make America Greater.  (It already is great, despite all the alarmist rhetoric & populist pandering to the contrary.)  Should the Trump team decide against my offer, it would be their loss, not mine.  Happily, I do have a fallback plan.

Part of my plan, whether I’m selected or not, is a substantive withdrawal from Facebook.  Facebook is, in my opinion, a real cesspool, where too many uninformed folks post poorly researched, destructive misinformation.  As I’ve asked elsewhere, how many turds do you need to see in the punch bowl before you decide not to imbibe any further?  One would quite enough for me.

My solution?  Well, I’ve relented against my first impulse to simply close my Facebook account entirely.  Why?   First, it’s a way for others – primarily farflung family members – to find me.  Second, it does offer me a glimpse into the lives of those family members and my other friends, some of whom are international and must rely on Facebook for any way of connecting.  But last, and most importantly, it can offer a portal to my writings here and elsewhere.

What does that mean?

I’ll read your posts and occasionally “like” or respond to some of them.  I might send you a private message, but I will never comment on your posts or share them on Facebook.  I might, however, comment here about any particularly insightful posts or especially stupid posts.

I’ll continue to contribute in several closed (& tightly controlled public) groups, such as my beekeeping groups, a closed political forum, own photography and travel groups, and two other photography groups.

Finally, I’ll create my own tightly managed public group where I’ll post only a digest of my writings here and on other blogs.  It will be the above-mentioned portal, with the appropriate links to my blog postings.  But there’ll be no discussions whatsoever in that group, sorry.