All In The Family

Family and politics rarely make a good combination but social media offers the opportunity to mix the two sometimes deliberately and sometimes inadvertently. 

In the wake of Charlottesville, I saw a Facebook post from two of my own that made me wonder, if the gap is so big between us, how can we hope to engage with people we don't have a deep affection for to try and mend the divide that separates us? Disagreements between family typically become personal quickly due to the emotional ties. Maybe it is easier with strangers but then again, without the emotional ties, people are easier to dismiss.

Social media has certainly made it easier to find and align with like minded people. It can bring together people with shared interest and experience from points near and far.  That's good but it's also bad in that it self sorts out diversity. The video shared in the post referenced above features a woman sharing a perspective on race based on what she says is her own experience. 

Looking through the comments, those that like the video lack both racial diversity or difference in insight on why it resonates with them. That in of itself should be a flag for anyone that hit the "like" button. Any take on racism that only a bunch of white people like does nothing to advance the conversation around racism. In fact, race isn't even the point of this video, the message is to promote the mainstream media as purveyors of fake news. It actually shoves aside, devaluing, the conversation around racism to make that claim about the media. No wonder a bunch of conservative white people like it, mainstream media bashing is an issue they really care about.

Sure, there are some that will miss that seemingly blunt overtone and infer a black woman said they are not racists. That's too is not absolution.

When things matter - and fighting racism matters - we need to question, validate, and hold each other accountable. Those that "liked" this video didn't do that. The host opens with some selective facts about race violence, then throws out a number about active hate group members that is not based in fact, and finally delivers her intended message that racism is a fabrication of the media.

I could fact check the farcical argument and take apart this video sentence by sentence but that isn't the point. It's unlikely by doing so I'm going to convince anyone that liked the video the message it contained is wrong. What I'm asking for is those that liked this video to be open to doing that work themselves. I'm asking them to willingly challenge their beliefs, validate them with fact, see if they stand up, and hold themselves accountable. I am not asking they do something I'm unwilling to do.

Agreeing with an opinion doesn't make that opinion fact. Disagreeing with a news story doesn't make that story fake news. Somewhere on Facebook, Twitter, and family rooms around the country those truths have become lost. Let's find them as a first step in bridging the divide.