Farcebook

And other cultural notes about chez Veritatem.

I joined Facebook about 15 years ago. I last posted to it about 5 years ago. My name is still on the account, but only my wife now posts to it. She (technically, me) has three “friends” who are retired teachers. When I take my occasional look at FB, I find long strings of posts by them: cat videos, dog videos, photos of grandchildren, “inspirational” thoughts, etc., etc., etc. My sister is also a “friend”, and she posts the same kind of stuff. If there’s a political slant — and there sometimes is — it’s to the left.

My wife religiously watches NBC Nightly News, a reliable purveyor of doom, gloom, and anti-conservative propaganda. I quit watching network news shows during the Vietnam War, resumed during the Watergate mess, quit again until the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, and quit for good after that.

Meanwhile, I keep up with the real world online (I prefer reading to listening and watching) by frequently checking Fox News and my feed-reader. I use the feed-reader to tap into non-mainstream sources of information and opinion. I also have digital subscriptions to The New York Times and The Washington Post for my wife’s benefit. She occasionally sends me a link to a story about literature, the arts, and other (usually non-political) subjects.

My wife and I have a congenial divergence of political views, now that she has finally stopped trying to convert me to the dark side. It also helps that Trump is no longer in the White House because the mere fact of his presence there drove her (and her “friends”) to distraction.