Life in Activism Memo #9: Don't Take the Bait

If you are about to get into an online argument about politics, just . . . don't

Photo by Emre on Unsplash

I hot poured coffee over my left hand early one May morning in 2016. That was when I knew it was time to stop arguing about politics online.

I had let myself get distracted by an argument I had that morning on Facebook about the 2016 Democratic primary. I was agnostic in the primary, but I did not like the refusal in some quarters to rally around Clinton when it became clear she was going to win. I was thinking about the argument I was having instead of paying attention to what I was doing, and I got burned. Literally.

Perhaps even worse, my interactions with the person with whom I was arguing—an old friend from my study abroad year in college—dropped off pretty dramatically after that. So, I hurt myself and lost a friend, and gained nothing at all.

At that moment, I pledged to stop online political arguments altogether. While I may have broken that pledge a few times in the year or so that followed it, I did pull back dramatically. Eventually, I quit arguing about politics online altogether, and have been clean for at least four years now.

As part of my quest to get clean, I came up with a song for myself. My son was very young at the time, and we watched a lot of Daniel Tiger on PBS Kids. Using the tune to: 

"When you have to go potty, stop and go right away. Flush and wash and be on your way!"

I came up with:

"When you wanna post a comment, stop and just look away. Close the app and be on your way!"

I have found that this has done wonders for my mood, made me a better activist, and hasn't cost me anything. Here is why: