I went to a high school with a graduating class of 673 students.. more or less. It was a great class and I have such great memories of those days and those people. FaceBook makes it possible to re-connect with my class mates, unfortunately some of those fine seniors grew up to be total A-holes. Here is an example that caused me to "defriend" an old classmate as fast as I could respond to a comment she posted. (Obviously the names have been blurred) but here is the exchange.
The article says:
Dinwiddie High School forced Hunter Spain to remove his shirt that pictured Si Robertson with the words “I Will Hurt You Physically and Metaphysically” because it was deemed too “threatening.”
If it had been a picture of Donald Duck on the shirt it would have raised the same red flag. I made a jokey comment about the show, which she did not "get". She then decided that I was way to Hollywood and was putting down the rural population of Louisianna and suggested that I was offended by "happy happy people". Along with a " like icon "there should be a BullSHIT icon to click when someone responds like this.
The fact is, I might agree that making an issue of a Si Roberson Duck shirt might have been an over reaction by school officials. However, with everyone wondering why a the Navy Yard shooter couldn't have been stopped because of earlier behaviors... you can't blame a school for being over cautious.
But back to my exFACEBOOK friend. It was my fault for thinking that someone I went to high school with decades ago has anything in common with me ... particularly my kind of humor. FaceBook comments do not allow for subtle delivery or ironic tone.. so most humor doesn't work anyway. I know that. Why I responded in the first place beats me. I looked at some of the other things she posted and wondered who is this person.
I liked everyone in High School. Why should I not friend a person from those days? Well, before you do... take a look at what they are posting and see if you want to be part THAT.
As you were,
Jay
or as I read it " a treat to human intelligence..." maybe one of those happy happy happy fb accidents
ReplyDeleteLOL Anonymous.... dyslexia is sometimes the common denominator. Obviously my ex friend did not even
ReplyDelete"get' that gaff. That is another thing about FB you can't go back and correct misspellings and poor grammar.
Thanks for the catch it made me laugh at myself.
The opposite has usually happened to me, old high school friends who were so excited to connect with me originally, become offended by me or my humor or my politics and comment on how much I have changed and then un-friend me.
ReplyDeleteOf course I changed...it's been 34 years and if "you" recalled, you didn't really like my views that much in high school.
Jay, I guess you went "Hollywood" and I went "Downtown Mobile, Alabama". Who knew they were so similar?
I find myself sending lots of people to the cornfield...people I thought I knew. They don't have to agree with me, but they do need to be polite, they shouldn't call me names, they shouldn't call my other friends names.
ReplyDeletePeople can be much, much meaner on facebook. And they do so love to scold when they don't have to face you and say it. It apparently makes them feel superior. Dunno. Hey, I think you're pretty darn okay. I am too. Hell with 'em. :-)
Dave Robinson... I always enjoy your comments. It proves once again that no matter where you go, there YOU are.
ReplyDeleteOnly 600 in our graduating class? 1967? I thought it was more like 1500! High school was okay; it had it's moments. You were a nice part of it, but I didn't like it enough to go to the reunions. Congrats on at least giving folks - even high school folks - a chance on FB, but life is too short to put up with downers. Stay happy, and smile at strangers - it may be the only smile they get that day.
ReplyDeleteI got a chuckle out of reading about a class of 673. My graduation class was 34. The Class of 1956. I had no idea this was a small class. It simply was what it was. But maybe there are advantages to a small number of classmates. several classmates are among my best friends after all these years. When we celebrated our 50th anniversary a few years ago, of the 30 living classmates, more than 20 showed up (Hey! I'm old enough to be excused for not remembering the exact number).
ReplyDeleteTom Hibbard
What I remember - when we were in high school and I felt I didn't belong anywhere (strangely enough, I found out later I wasn't the only one) you were always nice to me.
ReplyDelete