I Shot Down A Trumper AND Kept A Friendship

[ChoppinBroccoli]

The other day, one of my friends from high school (who, by the way, is an ultra-religious Republican despite being gay--figure THAT one out) posted a story about a guy who burned a flag. It garnered all the typical right-wing responses ("if he hates this country so much, he should get out," "he should have his citizenship revoked," "he should go live in a country that doesn't have all the freedoms we have here," etc.), and my friend whole-heartedly agreed with them. There was one person who tried to be the voice of reason, and posted a lot of very poignant rebuttals regarding the legality of flag-burning, and didn't get a lot of pushback from it. Now I don't generally jump into other people's conversations on Facebook (I've lost more than one friend this way), however in this case, I simply couldn't hold my tongue.

I posted the following: "I generally try not to interfere in other people's discussions, but I did want to make one point. This country is NOT a flag. This country is the Constitution. And the Constitution protects free speech. If you hate free speech, then it's YOU who "hates this country," and should "get out" (by the way, I would never tell someone to "get out" of the country simply because I disagreed with them). The Supreme Court has consistently ruled that the solution to "bad speech" is MORE SPEECH. So keep speaking up."

I fully expected an angry response from SOMEONE in the thread (I'm still smarting from an incident where I responded to a college friend's posting calling that Kentucky high school brat an "innocent little angel" and was summarily unfriended in the rudest way possible), but none came. And in fact, I got a "Like" from my friend on the post. So I was apparently able to post something that even the right-wing shills didn't dare try to refute AND didn't alienate a friend either (and quite possibly helped to educate the brainwashed rubes who know nothing but what they hear on RW scream radio). I'm actually a little bit proud of myself for that.

[Laffy Kat]

1. That was a great response. Good for you.

Influencing someone on FB is a rarity.

[Karadeniz]

2. Perfect umpiremanship!!!!! They were lucky to have your explanation!

[orleans]

3. that was great

but i wouldn't push my luck if i were you

my overall thought on republicans these days: F them

i cut a few loose on fb -- the couple i'm still "friends" with can't see what i post (b/c it's mostly political) and they never post anything political b/c even tho they voted for trump apparently they can't stand him

[KT2000]

4. really good response

and I hope to use it too. Thanks

[lunatica]

5. Well you were right, so maybe they see that

[CrispyQ]

6. Good on you!

I'm copying your response, BTW, because it's so excellent.

[Blue_true]

7. If you lost a friend for pointing out that catholic school kid was a brat,

that person was NEVER a real friend, consider yourself lucky.

[randr]

8. In these flag burning discussions

I like to point out that wearing the flag can be looked upon with equal distain.