Facebook

I signed up with Facebook (FB) years ago despite my understanding that it was mainly for kids. Curiosity I suppose. I quickly twigged that these kids (and maybe some grown-ups) were intent on racking up huge numbers of  FB 'friends' while I only had a paltry half dozen or so due to the fact that most of my chums chose to steer well clear of this childish stuff. After we moved to France I soon realised that quite a few old pals and tribal members had joined so it became a useful way of keeping in touch. Then came Brexit and I used FB as a vehicle for venting my spleen about the result. A few chums disagreed that Brexit was bad. Then came the general election. In the run up I again used FB to warn my 'friends' not to vote Tory. A few of them disagreed with my 'leftie' stance. Arguments followed. And a few insults. Ditched some chums. Then the result was announced. Tory landslide. Realised then that many of my 'friends' were Tory Brexiteers. Idiots. So I resigned from FB in a fit of pique. Another reason I left was that FB had become notorious for gathering info about its members' political views and other stuff. Re-joined a couple of months later with a much smaller number of 'friends' who apparently weren't too bothered about my occasional political rants. With this new FB membership I tried desperately hard not to give any clues about my political leanings to the FB spies. Didn't last long. I was soon opining negatively about Trump, Alexander de Pfeffel Johnson, Dominic Cummings etc. Back in the old routine.

Recently I posted a Mirror article on my FB page which featured the above photo with the headline caption 'Corner shop offers free hand gel to elderly customers to help fight coronavirus'.

My comment to this photo was "Excellent. Racist Tory Brexiteers take note."

A very dear 'friend' responded with (sic) "What has this to do with brexit reading the lefty Mirror sums you up you are demented I no longer want to listen to you, you are the one that’s racist."

I responded with "Been mulling this over. Couldn't work out why I'm accused of being racist. Maybe it's because I appear to be anti-British. I'm not. However, I am anti-Tory. That's political, not racist. I'm aware also that I appear to be a 'leftie'. Again, I'm not. If anything, I'm Old Labour which, of course, no longer exists. With the current Labour party in chaos and being led by extreme lefties, and the Tory party being led by extreme righties, the current British political system consists of two extremes with nothing in the middle. That's bad. I, like many others, now feel disconnected. Lost in a political no-man's land. Furthermore, this right-wing extremeism is being supported by a right-wing press owned by right-wing billionaires who contribute loadsadosh to the right-wing Tory party while stashing their tax-free cash in obscure foreign tax havens such as the Cayman Islands. The Tories, naturally, turn a blind eye. That's bad. At least Jeremy Corbyn threatened to do something about that injustice before the last election, but the right-wing press unsurprisingly shot him down. So..., while the Tories are in power, probably for the next ten years or more, the UK will continue to miss out on tax income which could be used to finance the NHS, ease poverty and support a whole host of other initiatives that would benefit the nation. Now, to answer your question regarding this Mirror article: it refers to a shopkeeper who may or may not be 'foreign', a Muslim and/or an immigrant. I'm led to believe that many people who voted for Brexit did so in response to various untruths such as Dominic Cummings' warning that the EU was about to allow thousands of Turkish immigrants free passage into the union with many of them aiming for British shores. Completely incorrect of course, but it caused panic and increased the Brexit vote. At the same time there were hundreds (or maybe thousands according to the right-wing press) of refugees queueing up at Calais ready to jump onto lorries heading for the UK. More panic. More votes for Brexit. "We have far too many foreigners already and it's far too easy for these people to gain entry, be given a nice flat or house, state handouts and free access to the NHS" opined Brexiteers who blamed the Brussels gravy-train, champagne-swilling, EU bureaucrats for this terrible state of affairs. The right-wing press agreed with this fallacy and encouraged even more people to vote Leave. And they did so. Anyway..., my point about that Mirror article is that the British press rarely has a good thing to say about someone who could be a Muslim and/or an immigrant. Hopefully that article may convince someone who may have voted Leave because of their fear or dislike of Muslims and/or immigrants to reconsider their prejudice. Not all Muslims and/or immigrants are bad or bombers or anti-Brit. Many are highly trained professionals such as medical practitioners who, unfortunately, have been forced to flee the UK because of Brexit. And that's bad. Very bad."

So..., that's probably another old chum off my FB 'friends' list. Great shame but ç'est la vie.

I understand that many people post up fairly mundane nonsense on FB such as photos of what they had for breakfast, or eyebrow selfies, or other fascinating imagery with a brief word or two.

Maybe I should seriously consider doing the same.