For Social Media, Let's Just Knock That Shit Off.

The "shit" being "politics". Just knock it off, everyone.

Here's the thing: People are on social media to connect with each other. Distant relatives, service buddies, former co-workers, school classmates. You're looking to see if the kid who was with you in band has been enjoying his retirement. Did your nephew score well on her SATs. Someone lost their job, another got divorced, a third landed a job, a fourth just had twins. The kid across the street's son in your hometown got a pilot's job with American, his sister flys F/A-18s. Your cousin adopted a rescue pet. All that stuff.

But as for politics on social media, guess what, Bucko? Nobody fucking cares. This is a polarized election and I will hazard a guess that everyone who is planning on voting knows who they are supporting. Even if you're going to throw your vote down a rathole (voting for Johnson or Stein), you know who you're voting for.

So when you post about that shit on social media, all you do is likely piss people off. They're your friends and relatives, why would you hector them?

There was an old conversational rule in the Navy: Three topics were off-limits-- Sex, religion and politics. That rule kept the discussions civilized and mostly at a calm level.

Blogging isn't social media, it's more opinion media. You pretty much know what you're going to get. You don't want to read someone mocking The Donald for trying to pitch to black voters by talking to lily-white audiences, then you've come to the wrong place.

On social media, it's like going into the basement rec room and finding your half-drunk crazy uncle ranting about shit. You just leave the room. And yes, the cyber-equivalent of leaving the room is what I've been doing on social media, and I suspect that I'm not alone.

Can we have one corner of the Internet that is not polluted by politics, people?