An example of Social Media directing Real Relationships

Anyone who knows me knows I have no problem with so-called “cuss-words”. I do not believe in such a thing. When I am writing, I tend to stray away from using them, unless I am infuriated or enraged. The one thing I do not ever engage in is derogatory language, which, is the kind of language that, even if a “cuss-word” is never uttered, the subject itself is just pedestrian and foul. I recently had cause to interject myself, and my “2 cents worth”, into a Facebook thread related to an ALS Ice Bucket Challenge put forth by a friend who we shall call Charlie. Moments into reading this thread, a poster equated autumn to a woman’s vagina, and not in a subtle way. The subsequent posts followed suit, and of course anyone with scruples would hopefully think twice before engaging in such dialogue when you’re posting on a thread dedicated to an ALS Ice Bucket challenge. You would at least think that the moderator would pull down the posts simply because they do not belong there. The same people, along with others, have engaged in such exercises repeatedly, but, the forum itself was dedicated to their subject matter. My wife became so disgusted with the postings; she stopped following the person who she knew, Charlie that engaged in these dialogues. Well, back to the subject at hand… a mutual friend of mine and Charlie, we shall call him Roscoe, was challenged in the video, and tagged in the post, to which alerted Roscoe to the post. Upon reading the thread, Roscoe posted about, since he was tagged, the disgusting thread showed up on his Facebook wall, and he sarcastically “Thanked” all the posters involved who devolved the dialogue into a low-brow discussion when it should have been related to the ALS Challenge. And even though Charlie, and his girlfriend, let’s call her Ginger, were in the same house, she felt the need to let Charlie know, through Facebook, well… read for yourself

Ginger: Hey Charlie , I just blocked Roscoe for being a bitch and unable to censor his Facebook from his kids. In case you were wondering. Fuck that.

Ginger has never, not once, met Roscoe. Roscoe is a single Father of 2 beautiful daughters, he is extremely successful at his job, he is a social magnet for men and women alike, and is one of the nicest, friendliest, most loyal people you would ever want to meet. He is a diplomat and a fighter, and knows how to maneuver between the two. Ginger is a transplant from up North, who is nice enough on the surface, but, essentially bitchy, emotional, and vile when it comes to people who she deems unworthy of her attention. When Ginger made her posting, I made the two subsequent postings.

Brian Price: Roscoe, I had to stop following this page a long time ago for the same reason. I don’t even have any kids. It is one thing to use a derogatory version of our language in person, but, if you can’t take the time to think and articulate your thoughts clearly through writing, I can only assume you don’t have the intellectual prowess to do so. You know I like my boy Charlie, but some of the foul examples of language that spews forth on some of these threads, through exchanges between he and his fellow Facebook citizens, is simply pathetic. Also, his girlfriend Ginger, who placed the previous post, is a nice enough girl, but as you can read, she is no poet, mostly emotion and estrogen.

Brian Price: Also, what Ginger, and Vernon, do not understand is that Roscoe probably wanted to show his oldest Daughter that Charlie had jumped on the bandwagon for a good cause [though it seems because of a demand from his girlfriend and a threat of not being able to sleep in his own bed] and challenged her Father to do the same. He probably had some pride in Charlie for what he was doing… until Roscoe discovered that apparently Charlie and his Facebook populace were mostly foul-mouthed Eighth Graders with a stunted vocabulary and maybe his Daughter shouldn’t purposely be exposed to such intellectual cretins. That is just my guess.

Upon reading this, Ginger not only de-friended me [it seems she can’t handle disagreement] but also de-friended my Wife, supposedly her good friend, and our niece, who she claimed she thought the world of, simply because they were associated with me. That is absolutely deplorable. My wife and niece had nothing to with this thread, never made a comment on it, or about it, yet Ginger made it clear she wants nothing to do with them because they are my family. It looks like Charlie really picked him a nice, reasonable, well-mannered girlfriend in Ginger. When Ginger made the comment, she made sure to block Roscoe quickly, so he could not respond.

Roscoe:  Apparently, I was blocked by her, Price, as I don’t see any post by her (and I’m assuming there was one after mine). This is not a bad thing. Once again, sorry Charlie.

See what I mean about nice, Roscoe apologized to Charlie for the entire matter, not that Roscoe was wrong, but, that this throws a rift into an otherwise sound friendship between Roscoe and Charlie. Roscoe really has nothing to apologize for. I talked to Charlie on the phone and when I said “You should have Roscoe’s back, he is your people. You of all people know he is not a Bitch, yet, you didn’t defend him or just remove the post and dress down Ginger for her behavior: Charlie stated “Roscoe isn’t my people, you know that.” WTF, apparently since Roscoe and Charlie have gone to lunch together a few times, been up to Roscoe’s has a few times, etc… they are not friends. In all of this, Charlie backed the unreasonable actions of his girlfriend, actions that before her, he found spiteful and cowardice. I am no longer friends with Charlie [he has been downgraded to an associate], simply for the fact I now know he can’t be counted on. I knew in my heart of hearts he was a coward, not necessarily a coward, but he has a cowardice nature… though I had hoped being around me, Roscoe, Roscoe’s brother, etc. he would have adopted an Alpha mentality, it seems instead of becoming stronger he chose to be weak. I always wish for a long life for people like this so as they get older, they ponder all the ways they chose to be cowards and weaklings instead of choosing to be strong. I have more to say, but, I will save it for another day.