Over the past several months, I have witnessed on my Facebook (FB) "Home" page several instances where my friends have had their Facebook account violated by another "friend" who had "jokingly" changed their relationship statuses to reflect that they were "gay" or in a "relationship with" someone. AND, in another instance, a "friend" decided to pretend to be a prepubescent stalker of another FB account holder!
I love humor and there are many things that I find extremely funny. Depending on the level of my relationship with another FB account holder ("friend"), I can poke fun at them through the use of the FB messages which can be sent privately to their Inbox. Because of the vastness of this particular social network, it is sometimes difficult to weigh the level of each relationship in order to determine between humor and maliciousness. And SOMETIMES, there are subjects which should be avoided due to the severity of the subject matter.
First off, gender orientation is a hot topic, both in politics, the media and the church. In churches, there are several of our brothers and sisters who struggle daily with their own gender orientation. While many may not be able to understand or empathize, for them, the struggle is just as real and emotional as those who struggle with alcoholism, drug addiction and other life issues.
Then, there's stalking which could include a whole slew of topics: predators and sex offenders, both of which our country's legal system takes VERY seriously, to the point where there is a VERY real National Sex Offender Registry which cripples a person's name permanently, for life!
I'm not suggesting behavior policing of FB, but I am suggesting that we as responsible citizens take the time to reconsider before taking the actions I've mentioned in the first paragraph. And, for those who have roommates: if you're so careless to leave your FB account up unattended, then don't complain when those irresponsible individuals "take advantage" of that opportunity! Deal with it internally and don't complain online -- it just indicts your own irresponsibility!
