In Response to a Facebook Friend

By Carol Noel Hawley -

Facebook, for better or for worse, is the primary source of news for many people.  Years ago, after the 2016 election, I vowed to be someone who would fact check all the lies posted by the White House and report the accurate information, so my FB connections who didn’t have time to do it themselves knew the truth. As I explained in early 2019, I had to somewhat restrict my efforts because I watched in horror as the firehose of lies and malfeasance from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue become ever more pervasive, and I became overwhelmed. But I have continued to do what I could since that time, and I’ve maintained my stance of searching for and posting pertinent factual information.


People need to know the truth, even if it's difficult to hear.  For the record, I have had scores of people contact me, some in person, some behind the scenes in Facebook, and some in public, to thank me for my work.  They know if I post something, it has been fact checked and it is accurate. If I make an error, I apologize and admit it. The people who contact me are Democrats, Independents, Republicans, and former Republicans. As the White House has maintained and exacerbated the malfeasance, to a person, these Facebook connections have asked me to continue to provide the truth.  


One such unsolicited recent private message said, "Thank you for all you have done to influence so many since 2016.  You are my hero for your unrelenting truth through research." This type of comment over the last few years has kept me focused, despite the fact that it would be far easier for me to put my head in the sand and ignore what is going on. It would be far less stressful to overlook the corruption and the lies, something that all citizens should care about, and to post only "positive" personal photos and stories, fun facts, and amusing animal videos, all of which I also do.


But citizens have the responsibility to know facts and to care about the truth;  they should share factual information so hopefully others will recognize veracity and act in a way so as to foster it and vote for it. Simply ignoring the truth, simply ignoring the facts of what elected representatives in our government are doing, will only allow corrupt, lying, unethical, and immoral politicians to continue to be elected, and ultimately to destroy our government and end our grand democratic experiment. 


The recent attempted coup was something completely foreseen by anyone who has been following the current White House for these last years. Those who say differently have not been paying attention; those who liken it to a "few bad apples" are choosing to be blind to the extent of the depravity that exists in Trump's Republican Party.  It is not the conservative party of Dwight Eisenhower and my parents' generation. And the only way it will be able to get back on track is if people educate themselves and vote for the person and his/her ethics, and not simply for the "R," because  there are far too many "R's" today that are Trump followers first and Americans second. 


I recognize that in today's society, I’m privileged: my family members are not people of color, my parents fostered my getting an education, I have health insurance, I have a supportive spouse, I am financially secure.  These privileges grant me the ability to sit back and ignore what’s going on in my country if I want to.  And quite frankly, if the current resident of the White House had become a dictator as was his goal, my life, my family's lives, would probably not be impacted all that much.  But here’s the thing- I worry about those who would be affected, those who already have been. I care about them. I care about my state, about our country.  I don’t have to wait until something affects me personally or becomes so egregious that it’s impossible to ignore, the way Wednesday's insurrection was. And I care about the truth. 


My hope is that my Facebook connections would follow suit. 


Postscript: For what it's worth, if Joe Biden intentionally lies, demonstrates corruption, or if his administration acts in an depraved, immoral way, I’ll be the first to shed a light on it with facts.  In this sense I am most definitely not a Democrat. I am a citizen who cares about her country, a citizen who believes in democracy. I can easily have political discussions and disagreements about policy, and often have in the past with laughter and camaraderie.  Today's political situation isn’t about a difference in politics. It’s about a difference in morals.

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