Rant #2,452: Thank You For Being a "Friend"

Yes, I am back in the saddle here.

Happy New Year to all who celebrated the Jewish High Holy Days, and to those who don't, I am hoping that the next year is a great one for you and your families.

Let's see, beyond my fast, what happened on Yom Kippor to myself and my family?

Well, as true to tradition, I got knocked on Facebook for my political views by other Jews, called every name in the book by them, and then, unfortunately, I went down to their level, which I do regret.

I should not have even been on Facebook anyway during this day in particular, but I was on it briefly, and even in its brevity, I weathered a storm of negative comments from people, some of them being vicious.

I am convinced that we, as a culture, have completely forgotten about having a discussion, where there are at least two sides to every argument.

Today, some people take whatever views are counter to theirs as a knock on their heritage, as a knock on their personal being, as a knock on their very reason for being here, and they cannot let things be, and part on friendly terms.

They cannot drop it, they cannot agree to disagree, they cannot bury the hatchet, they take any counter belief as a strike on their very being, and what's more, they often use filthy language to dismiss the other side.

To me, it should be like the Yankees and Mets. Yankees fans and Mets fans have been trading barbs with each other for decades, yet most of the time, those who root for the Yankees and those who root for the Mets part on friendly terms.

But in the real world, or at least today's over-sensitive real world--where it appears everyone is looking for something to be enraged about--it just does not work that way. It seems that some people simply can't end an argument still being friends.

And this has to do with social media, which is the Wild West for everything, including what it means to be a friend.

I mean, really, how many true "friends" does one speak to via the Internet? Very few, although I am sure most people using Facebook have a countless number of people that they list as "friends"

Comedian and talk show host Ellen Degeneres, normally a social media darling, recently received brickbats from even some of her most loyal supporters by sharing an afternoon with former President George Bush at an NFL game where they were both invited to attend by a mutual friend.

Degeneres was seen canoodling with Bush, having a couple of laughs, and truly enjoying herself in the company of the former Commander in Chief.

Some of her followers knocked this behavior, stating that there was no way she should be associated with Bush, since he was never a proponent, at least as president, on the gay lifestyle, which, of course, is a lifestyle Degeneres not only enjoys, but has been something of a trailblazer for with her former sitcom and outspoken views on that lifestyle.

She replied that sure, she does not agree with Bush on such issues, and others, but that should not preclude her from being his friend only because his political views are different than hers.

She said that that can be put aside when one is in the company of a friend, that friends don't always have to see eye to eye on everything to remain friends, and yes, she does count Bush as a friend.

That is the correct attitude. If everyone counted their true friends, they would find that politically, they come from all sides. Would you sweep away friends just because you did not agree with them on politics?

How shallow a world we would live in if people picked and chose their friends simply on politics.

Me, I have friends from all areas of the political spectrum, and yes, I have friends who are Mets fans as opposed to Yankees fans.

We spar, cast barbs at each other, and walk away with a smile on our faces, because we remain friends through thick and thin.

Why can't some people see this, that we are "allowed" to have our own viewpoints and still be friendly to each other?

I simply don't get it.

Do you?