The Crazy Bag Person of Facebook

[lagilman]

So there is a Person on Facebook who requested to friend me. Since I didn't recognize the name, I did a basic looksee -- account seemed legit, there were no obvious warning signs (being a member of NAMBLA, FantasyWritersRTheAntiChrist, etc etc), had a number of other writers friended, so probably was a reader -- so I said yes.

Didn't think too much about it until I happened on a post this Person had made, and -- being somewhat taken aback by the comment -- left a comment asking for clarification. Had Person -really- meant what they said, and did they realize how offensive it was?

In response, my legitimacy to question Person's statement was questioned, as was my education, my relevance, and my being there in the first place. And nope, never did actually respond to my request for clarification.

I have since come to realize that Person is the Crazy Bag Person of Facebook. Seriously, certifiably, somewhat pitiably full-out loony.

Should I keep someone on my friends list just because their wall is like reading surrealist theater? Mmmmm probably not. I don't have time to go down rabbit-holes, and people who wear tin foil hats make me itch. And yet... it's like watching a slow-mo train wreck where you know the sole passenger is too drunk to get injured. I just can't look away.

And it reminds me to be gentle with people, because sometimes they really aren't coming from our part of reality and it's not their fault.

But wow.

{in the end, I defriended Person, mainly because I didn't want anyone to see me on their f-list and think,"ok, Person must be all right, then" Because, no.)


And, to counter all that, a quote from a nicely rational human being:

"I’ll tell you one thing: I was a card-carrying Republican until he did this. Republicans are not this mean. I gotta believe that. I’m now an independent thanks to Scott Walker." - JOEL WAGNER (from an on-the-street interview in, I believe, Democracy Today)

Comments

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

Your quote captures my feelings precisely. I don't even need to know the details of the post to know that I'd have simply defriended the person without comment. I really dislike the dishonesty disguised as debate that these schmoes try to use; maybe it works in their own group, but not here.

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I saw this making the rounds:

A unionized public employee, a teabagger, and a CEO are sitting at a table. In the middle of the table is a plate with a dozen cookies on it. The CEO reaches across and takes 11 cookies, then looks at the teabagger and says “Watch out for that union guy—he wants a piece of your cookie!”

[jperceval.livejournal.com]

It was Charlie Sheen, wasn't it? *g*

[scottedelman.livejournal.com]

It was good of you to defriend so that your friends won't think you've vetted this person. You'd be amazed at the number of friend requests I get from people I don't know who have tons of mutual friends, yet when I check their recent statuses, I see they're inviting me to go look at their pictures off site which they promise I'll like. In other words, a porn bot. So instead of friending, I block and report them.

I think many people will OK any friend request with no research whatsoever. Not me.

[firynze.livejournal.com]

And this is (one more reason) why I'm only on Facebook to operate a page for the company. Facebook is a Land of Crazy.

[barbhendee.livejournal.com]

Laura Anne, I think is an interesting dilemma for folks like you who are using Facebook in several different ways: 1) as a good way to stay in touch with real friends and 2) also as a marketing platform.

I've chatted with a few writer friends like Carrie Vaughn and Kevin J. Anderson about this, and they both use Facebook almost primarily as a marketing platform, and they have thousands of friends.

But I'm not good at that, and I often wonder how they handle the barrage of private messages. In my early days on Facebook, if I didn't know someone, I would do a check, see how many "mutual friends" the person had, and try to do a little research. I still ended up "unfriending" one nutty individual. Now, I don't accept a request from anyone I don't know. My agent isn't thrilled with that decision, but it's best for me. I think people just need to do what works best for them.

[supertailz.livejournal.com]

It's worth adding that Joel Wagner is from the Sheriff's office in Dane County in WI, and I believe was out of uniform and protesting too. Stories like that make me hopeful for all of us.