Facebook Arguments

@KillJoy that’s brilliant!

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Over the last 48 hours the USCCA Social Media platforms have seen a plethora of keyboard warriors and very angry comments over a PM that was screen captured and posted. Tim did a video in response and it has had great support - however, there are still the few who are there to argue for the sake of arguing.

Asking valid questions in a respectful manner is ALWAYS welcome. Unfortunately, the keyboard warriors aren’t there to ask productive questions - they want to stir the pot.

And no one is immune from their attack. Please keep that in mind for your personal and legal safety. Those types of arguments will never be won and can be damaging to you and your legal defense. Stay safe out there and online!

BTW- the attitude and “arguments” here have been awesome! Thank you for being such awesome parts of the USCCA Community!

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I may have just sent that to some of our Social Care team, @JKetchem . :slight_smile:

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That’s usually what I post when I run into the “1st keyboard division” on Facebook.

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This started out as one paragraph, sorry :smile:

That’s the way most online communities and social media have become. I have cousins and friends who do the same thing,

I just laugh at the hypocrisy, my opinions are mine and I don’t need them displayed, stored, taken out of context or used against me in the future.

I never engage in social media( I did once and the person deleted their original post within minutes after I pointed out that the stat/graph that they had posted to prove “racism” was actually “pretty racist” when you took into account the percentage of the population/races they were comparing. That was the one and only time I did that. It was funny how fast they deleted their post that actually disproved their claim of racism and made them look racist in the process.

I just laugh at the hypocrisy. The funniest one I saw was some friend state they were tired of conservative friends who post on their jokes/news stories and if anyone tried to refute the joke/news they would be instantly “blocked”, so fragile.

“Why can’t I just tell lies and post false info so all my like minded friends can laugh at stupid conservatives without being disturbed” but they never show the same respect. I watched the thread devolve into the meanest things being said about people who had different views and decided after reading what “my friend” had to say in their resulting posts plus what all their other friends had to say I no longer needed this person in my life and unfriended them.

I had known this person for over 15 years, 5 in real life and then over ten with weekly phone calls and daily emails. We were complete opposites. We would debate and joke with each other about politics, beliefs, life etc. even for birthdays or Christmas we would include some political joke present along with the real one.

The gag gifts were the best part of the whole thing. It was a lot harder for this friend to find nazi memorabilia(they had to switch to confederate) since it’s so tightly regulated then for me to do a quick purchase of Soviet/communist war medals, patches, hats, outfits etc.

That all ended one day a couple of November’s ago.

I had scoured online and called local stores in their state for the individual for a gaming computer for their sons birthday in their price range. I found one that was being closed out and was top of the line and under budget and had the store hold it until the individual got off of work. That was the end of October the individual was so excited etc. and was going to let me know how much the son liked it after his birthday the 12th of November.

We talked all the way up to Election Day and then nothing. I finally emailed and asked if the computer worked/he liked it and if there was anything wrong since I hadn’t heard from them.

All I got was a “yup, it works, it plays the games he wanted”. I replied back with give me a call tomorrow after 5 my time or I can give you a call. No reply. I tried calling and emailing, left voicemails over a few months even sent the yearly Christmas present with no reply and didn’t receive one in return and eventually took the hint.

We had been friends through Clinton, Bush and Obama but this one night pushed them over the edge and ended the friendship over the outcome. If the outcome would’ve been different we would still be friends.

I’m glad I saw their true colors and I now realize that even after knowing me for years, all the good and charity work we had done(how we met and why we stayed in contact) they now see me as one of the “bad backwards non-enlightened people” and an actual “nazi/redneck” that we had always joked about.

But that’s life.

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That’s one hellofa long paragraph @Bill. :rofl:. FYI: Welcome

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I have that problem :smiley: I’m going to make a tiny post then a story or two pop into my head and it’s all over.

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@Bill - welcome - and glad I’m not the only one who’ll be holding down the “really I could have written several more pages but it’s past my bedtime” end of the conversation :smiley: :joy:

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Welcome to the Community, @Bill! I’m sorry to hear about your friend. Social media is supposed to unite us, but IMO a lot of the keyboard warrior behavior is dividing us and causing people to take sides and ruining relationships.

In person, you both seemed to find common ground which helped others (charity work) and built a friendship even though you had vastly different viewpoints. It’s disheartening that the interactions over a social platform nullified the in-person relationship that was built. :frowning:

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I use to think Facebook was part of a solution. I now think Facebook is a major part of the problem.

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If I could like your comment a thousand times, I would.

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I saw a meme a while back that said, “I changed my mind because an argument on Facebook… said no one ever.”
Facebook is a place that makes people say things they would not necessarily say in person. A cowards verbal platform to try and enrage others. I’ve been on Facebook for about 10 years, I don’t have a lot of “friends”. I use it simply to connect with actual friends around the globe.
Like here, it’s a great place to connect with others and make friends. We all won’t agree on everything, but we can be respectful and try to keep an open mind in discussions.

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@Dawn there’s a Facebook community?

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No Facebook community, @BrophE. We do have a Facebook page for the USCCA.

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I’m new to FB so I haven’t gotten into any of those yet. I dropped a bomb over on everytown today though that may change that.

I would say do all you can to avoid ever posting anything like that however since it could be used to show premeditation and intent in the event a shooting does occur.

Be assured if you are ever involved in such a case your entire online history will be considered in the decision to charge you and will certainly be used if there is a civil case no matter the outcome of the criminal case whether you are charged or not.

Even if you are perfectly lawful in your actions and can win both at the civil and criminal level you could easily be out 50-100K defending yourself even if you never see the inside of a courthouse.

Dawn, after watching/listening to the May 24 publication of Kevin Michalowski and Attorney Tom Grieve talk about the aftermath of a shooting when the police arrive, it actually has me rethinking if I am brave enough to cc.

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Beth did a 3 part video series recently on that subject. Perhaps there’s a link somewhere that could take you to them?

Really well covered.

Part of our job as instructors is to get people considering ownership and carry to do a lot of self examination as to whether or not they are prepared for the responsibility and willing to deal with the potential consequences of a DGU.

There was a period of time after I finished my service that I didn’t trust myself with a handgun at all. It took me a lot of serious introspection and self evaluation to get to the point of deciding I was ready. After weighing all the factors, pro and con and assessing my own judgement I came to the decision I was ready to go back to not only owning, but carrying and teaching again.

Just the fact you’re examining it says you’re on the right track.

For some reason the risks just don’t outweigh the potential benefits, and that’s fine. If you’re not comfortable with firearms, not comfortable carrying, not convinced you are ready to make good decisions under the stress of a critical defensive incident or the aftermath that’s fine. When you work through, it all and are ready to go forward go ahead, if you never get there that’s fine too.

I’d rather a student who isn’t really ready back up and work their way through it and I’m happy to help no matter the outcome.

You must be an above average citizen when it comes to responsibility or you wouldn’t even be looking inward to start with so I’d say you’ll probably get there.

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@Patrick3 for me it comes down to this… which kind of horrible do I want least? The kind of horible that comes with being prosecuted for doing the right thing? Or the kind of horrible that comes with knowing that I could have saved a loved one and didn’t?
For me, I’d rather have take the risk of being prosecuted than the certain regret and loss of not protecting a loved one.
It’s not a casual decision, and being prosecuted would suck, but knowing I let someone I love get injured or die because I didn’t have the fortitude to deal with the possible outcomes would suck a lot more.

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@Patrick3 and the fact that those possibilities are at the deep end of the consequence pool is what makes me come on here and learn, take courses, have a trainer, think through scenarios, and go to the range. This is serious stuff and it requires serious treatment. But its important stuff and worth putting time and effort and money into, and for me it’s worth the potential risks.

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