Fortunately my siblings and friends that I am staying in touch with all think the same and I have the same thoughts. This is not something to take lightly and we are all practicing physical distancing.

I haven't had any serious issues with my friends over this, but I was shocked when I called a house-hold, through my work, and the male answered who was a senior. There was a lot of noise in the background and he said they were having a family birthday party. No social distancing there!

kath....My brother and yours....must be cut from the same cloth. :0) I don't want to be around him. That relationships always been like that. He's just too self invovled. ie: I remember when he decided razor kick scooters were dangerous. That's ALL he could talk about. I can only imagine what "freak-out" he has going about covid.

No. We still wear masks in stores. Consolidate our trips. No ones confrontational.

Nope I haven't had any problems or conflicts with family or friends. However I see a lot of crazy on nextdoor at times. Thankfully there is a way to ignore those people. It can go on and on and take up so much space. I select the option to no longer see that. I prefer to remain chill.

There are many differing opinions about the virus and everyone out there thinks they know what is right because they are so much smarter than everyone else. Ever think maybe they are right and you are wrong...HA!

I prefer to follow actual science, rather than pseudoscience or unscientific misinformation...

I haven't lost any friends over this though, like with politics, some of the conversations just can't go there. But if I find out someone isn't physically distancing to my satisfaction then I make sure to be extra distant from them!

And I have two sisters who send out vile diatribes about President Trump and conservatives. I find I can only speak to one about family, BTW, she does not social distance with family. The other, retired professor and former pharma researcher, I can only talk to her about covid and research about it, but she veers off on political diatribes and ridicules about the "right". I've seen her set off screaming at at a decent at an estuary museum because he commented that many millennials did not seen to care about a certain matter. She was the one who asked who cared most and least! We carted her off before security was involved.

Intolerance comes from the left wing too. I just will not respond or engage her in political or religious areas. I'm adept at diverting her rants.

Can I unfriend family? Not on Facebook, I mean in real life?

Not really, but I sure wish I could.

My brother, like so many in this region of the country, think this is all overblown. I've noticed the people screaming the loudest about things getting "back to normal" are those whose personal wealth could be affected. Notice I said personal wealth, NOT financial hardship.

I know plenty of poorer people, people who live paycheck to paycheck, who work in restaurants or retail, who have had theirs hours cut back or their salary cut.

THEY have been personally affected, quite deeply by the situation and THEY are also the ones who are terrified about having to go to work every day and be exposed to these self righteous zealots.

These people who have flouted the rules from the beginning...and now that things are opening back up (too soon for my area, in my opinion) are so eager to get things "back to normal" that they are proceeding as though things were normal, that's where my brother is. He actually had the audacity to tell me that he was taking this serious and following the proper protocols so "why won't you let my kids come visit and play with yours?!?!?!?"

Uhhh, what part of social distancing don't you understand bro??

One of my friends saw my brother in a store the other day, with his wife, and their 4 year old and 1 year old. All without masks on.

I'm not surprised, but I am angered by the fact that he brings his children to my parents house next door every day to be watched.

My dad is in a high risk group, if he gets sick, there's a good chance it would kill him.

We already had a strained relationship but through all of this, it's gotten worse. He has literally accused me of "believing all this nonsense" as an excuse to not have physical contact with him and his kids.

It's frustrating to no end, and there is no real escape since I see either him or his wife and my nephew's next door 5 days a week.

It is very frustrating.

"There's is a dangerous moron and buffoon who's made us the laughing stock of the rest of the world who thinks the health crisis is his personal political challenge. His ignorance has caused needless deaths and suffering. We're suffering from having the dumbest and worst president in the history of the country at the worst possible time. "

change channels and find out what is really going on and who's behind it. he's one of the best and is in office at the right time and will stay in office.

Oh he'll stay in office, that I would be willing to bet money on. But that doesn't mean he is the right person.

I couldn’t possibly take issue with friends or indeed family over their actions or thoughts on this virus.

Too many have flouted rules or continued to live their lives in less than ideal ways. Two of them for example have front line jobs that they don’t have to do.

Honourable? Nope, one can’t bear not to work, the other has similar reasons coupled with a few financial concerns. Both could pass on the virus to people they live with, one of them has a partner with COPD.

I try to accept that my preferred take on things is seldom the whole story and reality is much more nuanced than often disclosed on boards like this.

Personal circumstances, different occasions, and individual mind sets make big differences to reactions to most things.

One of the biggest surprises I had last week was the reported drunken revelry of a middle aged primary school teacher during an evening ‘do’ in our cul de sac to celebrate VE Day.

I bet she didn’t post anything about her behaviour on her FB page the next day if she has one.

Elmer, I often disagree with your comments, but you're right on with this one. Only one channel supports 45's idiocy: FOX, the propaganda arm of the GOP.

I prefer listening to an infectious disease expert than a politician. I feel we are on our own with no real leadership or path. Being captain of your own ship, so to speak. I see most of Wisconsin is open now and Reuters News service calls it the wild, wild west.

Lovely.

WOW intolerance is well and kicking here. FB is such a non relationship the idea one can't tolerate postings from "friends" people we have history with, people we once were in relationship with says more about the blocker I would say. The arrogance that says I REFUSE to hear, have in front of me ideas that challenge mine is itself a block. COVID-19 is certainly teaching us about ourselves and about the people around us. FACT is how much of the information is reality, how much of the feared horror will come to pass, how much of it is just fear, will only be known through the lens of history. This is a time to draw closer not cut ties. I scroll through a lot of NONSENSE "friends" post. Actually most postings are trivial and not worth my time so I 'un-follow' and choose when I care to check in and see what they are posting these days...We are all sooooo different to insist our circles be carbon copies of ourselves seems very limiting.

WOW intolerance is well and kicking here.

Actually most postings are trivial and not worth my time.

Hmmmmm....

When I retired, I 'facebook friended' a few too many work acquaintances. I've unfriended or unfollowed about four now. One for being incredibly closed-minded AND boring (just like at work, why did I think she'd change, lol), the others for sharing too much anti-social sh**. The most recent was covid-related stupidity.

I unfriended a friend that I had since my high school years. She was acting very passive-aggressive towards me on fb and would not answer my question when I asked her what was wrong (in a private message). I felt she was disrespecting me, so I unfriended her; then she blocked me. Oh well. Actually it hurt me a lot. She is the only person I've ever 'unfriended' on fb. I find aspects of fb childish, but it actually reveals a person's true nature at times.

Many of the comments above are reasons why I choose not to ever be a participant on Facebook. There are far too many uneducated idiots flapping their gums (figuratively) about things they have no real knowledge of and I just don't need that sort of aggravation in my life. Why??

I think the pandemic has actually brought me closer to some friends and family with whom previous contact was more hit or miss as lives, jobs, families, etc. often got in the way. But now because these folks are stuck at home and because we are all aging, we have been reaching out to each other more frequently just to touch base and make sure all is well. The phone, texting, email and Zoom have been getting a heavy work-out!!

I do have one family member who's ideas are to say the least unconventional and at times controversial but we all try very hard to avoid topics of discussion that will set her off. In talking with another family member about this just last night we concluded that many of these far fetched opinions boil down to a simple lack of education. She rejects science and conventional medicine because she just doesn't understand it, She is an anti-vaxxer, thinks Bill Gates is the devil incarnate and is self-treating her stage 4 breast cancer with cleanses, a vegan diet and meditation. No traditional medical care involved at all. We all love and worry about her (and her two teen-age boys she could leave behind) but she will not take advice from anyone. Sad, really.

And Elmer, you have summed up the situation in Washington perfectly. Of all the times in the history of this country that we need smart, reasoned and informed leadership and we have a instead a self-serving complete moron running the show. I won't be around to see it but I wonder how history will regard the current administration. It can't possibly be favorable.

gardengal, I have a friend just like that too...if she ever gets cancer, she's a goner as she won't go near anything conventional and mainlines these videos from some oddball couple...he's a body builder and she's an actress... who preach antivax and alternative cancer treatments. I wish I could find a way to reach people like her but unfortunately, it's beyond me. She's the one who thinks bill gates is pushing for a covid vaccine so they can inject a tracking device into everyone... SMH

Annie, your friend could very well be my niece! Same exact thought processes going on......

Everything she 'knows' she got from Facebook. And now she is claiming she has "cured" her cancer - how could she possibly know that without proper diagnostic techniques - and has promoted her own following of similar believers that she is leading down the garden path to oblivion!

Elmer, I'm far more conservative that most of the people who seem to post here. (I'm driven by fiscal issues and a desire for minimal government involvement - not religious reasons - not that it matters...)

Anyway, I liked your post above, and I'd like it a hundred times if I could.

We live in crazy times.

As you said - we can debate politics and opinions all day long. However this disdain for actual science, for real data, that some people have....it's not going to end well I'm afraid.

Elmer wrote perfectly about this issue, but I have to ask, How can anyone believe there are many opinions about the virus?

There may be opinions about policy with respect to the virus, the Swedish approach, versus the French, perhaps, but about the virus, there cannot be opinions.

There are known and unknowns with the virus, no opinions, hypotheses, not opinions. And the hypothesis bit, that is reserved for people who know about viruses, who can formulate cogent thoughts about how the virus behaves and reacts to different situations.

As for unfriending people over their thinking, I live in a pretty homogenous bubble filled with like minded people. We are capable of discussing differences of opinion about policy without veering into conspiracy theories and non scientific nonsense, so I have no idea what I would do. Plus, I am not on FB, so I don't ever see people sharing such rants and I do not have a string of acquaintances called "friends."

I have one relative by marriage who has unusual opinions about such things. We are not friends by any stretch of the imagination since this person's world view and personal behavior is anathema to me overall, not just on matters of COVID. OTOH I have a neighbor who occasionally says things I find a bit odd, but he is a lovely gentleman and I try to see his point of view and understand the reasoning behind his opinions.

The old saying goes: Opinions are like a--holes, everybody has one. (And many of them stink!) ;-)

FWIW, I recently read some reporting about less education being associated with a tendency to subscribe to & more easily accept the bogus COVID-19 'information' that's going around right now.

And FOXNews isn't the only media outlet pushing this dangerous rejection of science...

Do I understand correctly that FOX isn't licensed as a news broadcast station in Canada because it provides *entertainment* rather than enough legitimate (FACTUAL) news?

What's this new station that Donnie is promoting -- the one that's fast replacing FOX as promoting Donnie?

No FB for me. It sounded largely juvenile to me from the onset, starting with the name.

Chisue , fwiw FB's name refers to a physical book colleges used to print with the names and pictures of the incoming freshman class, hence a face book.

I hear you gardengal...I tried to share this with her but got nowhere: https://news.yale.edu/2017/08/10/using-only-alternative-medicine-cancer-linked-lower-survival-rate

You know, there are none so blind as those who will not see...

Well that speaks volumes for the insecurity of the member(s) who removed the comment. What an unfortunate lack of self confidence.

that tells me I wasn't the only one who's tired of the anti Trump comments here.

but, I don't jump to the conclusion that they're insecure or lack self confidence, just tired of the attacks on Trump and the lies of the left media.

And FOXNews isn't the only media outlet pushing this dangerous rejection of science...

do you watch Fox? I do and I haven't heard anything on it about rejecting science.

Elmer, I don't care what you post. We still have the freedom in this country to disagree. I may disagree with you politically , but I'm free to scroll on by and ignore your posts. You're welcome.

Yes, I have Facebook "friends " who are posting ridiculous theories about the virus. I simply don't believe their conspiracy theories, etc. and have respectfully told them so.

These people are family members, who don't practice social distancing as far as I can tell, still have their children, and grandchildren coming to visit them, and their children are taking their kids to parks and to visit other family members. I love these people and I'm concerned about their well-being, but there's nothing more I can do. Thankfully, there are only three on DH's side who think the virus is nothing to worry about. Two of them are a couple who are pastors of their own church. They share a Facebook account and I did block them when a lady disagreed with a post of theirs, and said she would unfollow them. The husbands response was rude and juvenile, basically throwing a fit because she disagreed with them.

Kathsgrdn, I don't think you have anything to be worry about. I would have done the same thing.

COVID-19 doesn't know party lines. Anyone who says otherwise is politicizing a virus. Which is completely inane.

Absolutely, woodrose. It's normal for people to have political disagreements and to discuss them.

Public health and disease crises are not political matters. The inputs for making decisions are scientific and factual, only experts have the knowledge and training to do so. Facts aren't variable or relative, the way opinions are.

The decisions have been grossly mishandled in the US because of being treated as political matters, as we all have seen.

Ah, but this Facebook has encouraged people to create superficial (face-deep) 'masks'.

Each person on Facebook, chooses their own friends. To complain about obnoxious people on your thread doesn't make sense. I'm on FB because I especially enjoy keeping up with people I no longer see often in person, people who don't live nearby. I do unfriend people over time if I find I no longer have an interest in a "friendship" with them or they drain me I keep my FB friends on a less is more basis. I have two nieces I unfollowed so I don't see their feed everyday, but because they are relatives I like to check on them once in a while. There is no reason to be on FB if you simply don't like the expanded circle of friends, but there is also no reason to dislike FB because your chosen friends are jerks.

When I joined FB years ago it was actually as a lark, my oldest created my page.

I am only on it because of my two daughters. I think I have 17 people on my list.

I haven’t collected people because I don’t want it to be the way I communicate.

People feel they have things covered if they post on FB.

FB has come in handy so I’ll keep my profile, but I haven t posted anything for years.

I agree with C Marlin. Only keep those who you care about and want a connection.

The problem is people feel if they don’t allow someone on their list, they will be insulted. That is why I explain that I really don’t use it.

For what I've seen, Facebook is a perfect storm, the intersection of exhibitionism and voyeurism.

Exhibitionism and bragging - people I know must of course want to know all of the details of my life. Here's where I went, here's what I did, look at my new clothes. Here's where I had dinner, here's my new furniture-it was so expensive but doesn't it fit perfectly. Here's the car my spouse got me for my birthday. Yawn.

Voyeurism - a curiosity and desire to know what the braggarts have to say.

I have no problem keeping in touch with friends and family. I'm not on Facebook. And in doing so, no - I don't need to know what color they've painted their bedroom.

Yes, we have little tykes in the family. Free websites host photos accessible only to people who have been sent links. It's not necessary to broadcast one's life to everyone and anyone that a person has even a brief acquaintance with.

Facebook is an easy way to keep up with businesses. Many of the restaurants here that closed for good only posted their closings on facebook, not on their website. I've also gotten information about sales, new products and so on.

Every restaurant, etc. that I've seen on FB has made their pages public, and they're viewable without belonging. You just have to deal with annoying pop-ups asking you to log in, but you can scroll past those and read what you need to.

My biggest objection to FB is how Zuckerberg has, in the name of money, allowed the platform to become the vehicle for a huge amount of disinformation. When the Cambridge Analytica story broke, a number of my friends deleted their profiles. I was glad never to have had one.

With accusations flying, Zuckerberg announced he was going to bring FB back to its original purpose. People connecting with people.

I haven’t seen any indication of things changing.

chisue

Do I understand correctly that FOX isn't licensed as a news broadcast station in Canada because it provides *entertainment* rather than enough legitimate (FACTUAL) news?

Nope, not true.

The CRTC regulations apply only to Canadian broadcasters using Canadian airwaves; they do not apply to the Fox News Channel, which is a non-Canadian entity transmitted via satellite and cable, not broadcast over public airwaves.

Fox Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch was rebuffed in his efforts to establish Fox News Canada in 2003 due to Canadian laws regarding foreign ownership of print and broadcast media, but the CRTC approved an application to bring the Fox News Channel to Canadian digital television line-ups back in November 2004, and that channel is now carried by dozens of different digital providers throughout Canada. (The claimed distinction that Fox News Channel is only allowed in Canada due to its being classified as an “entertainment” channel rather than as a “news” channel is a meaningless one, as those classifications only apply to Canadian media outlets, and Fox is an American company.)

The Fox television network (known as the Fox Broadcasting Company), which is a broadcast entity distinctly different from the Fox News Channel, does not have any affiliates or owned-and-operated stations in Canada, but Fox network programming is carried on cable and satellite providers in Canada and is available over the airwaves through several U.S. stations located near the U.S.-Canada border.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/canadian-fox/

>> do you watch Fox? I do and I haven't heard anything on it about rejecting science.

Well, except for Trump himself .....

i haven’t seen any indication of things changing.

Indeed. This is the last part of a long piece on Zuckerberg in today's NYT business section:

It remains to be seen what an increasingly visible Mr. Zuckerberg will do when challenged by the powerful. In March, in an interview with The New York Times, he said Facebook would not tolerate “misinformation that has imminent risk of danger.” He cited as an example “things like ‘You can cure this by drinking bleach.’ I mean, that’s just in a different class.”

Days later, during a White House news conference, Mr. Trump wondered aloud about an “injection inside” of disinfectant. As poison control centers were flooded with questions and the makers of Clorox and Lysol issued statements imploring Americans not to ingest their caustic cleaners, Facebook wilted, and across the platform, video of the comments went swiftly viral.

I like Facebook for the most part. I resisted joining years ago but am glad I did. I was able to connect with my Japanese relatives through it, after sending a letter, one of the younger cousins had a Facebook account and that's how I got in contact with her father, and his sister. I'm also able to keep up on some Kters who no longer post here.

I also enjoy seeing pictures of their lives, family, pets, gardens, homes, food.

Me too, Kathsgrdn. My family & friends are scattered to the 4 corners of this country and beyond - all in different time zones. FB is the best way to connect - esp. now!

I have only this past year or so been active on fb, since my son moved to Washington. I am a fan, I've found a few plant and aquarium groups I'm happy with. I have sadly also defriended some past acquaintances after seeing too much of an unsavory political side to them that I had not been aware of before.

I rarely unfriend people for having different opinions. I will unfriend people who post racist and homophobic posts though. I don't need people like that in my life.

Debby, part of the views of those I defriended were racist, and my family is biracial. I agree, we don't need such people around us.

I unfriended a person I've known since Jr. Hi. She posts things constantly, which is annoying enough. But she posted something riddled with inaccuracies about the virus. When I pointed them out to her and told her she needed to take the post down she refused. She only "liked" the comments that agreed with her and the majority of us who didn't, she had no response to.

Life's too short... esp these days. I feel great letting go of a toxic person who's only out to spread rumors. Very freeing!

I've never unfriended nor unfollowed ANYONE on FB. I really don't want ever to do so - If I do so, it won't be over opinions.

I want to hear other opinions than my own, but I do hope that if I choose to reply with my own perspective, I can be treated the same way.

I posted my perspective back early April or something about thinking we should pay more attention to epidemiologists and medical professions than politicians. I was polite and didn't name any politicians. She took umbrage and decided I meant Trump (well, I did) and ONLY Trump (I didn't - I take an across the aisles approach) and told me she was no longer going to read any of my posts. She unfollowed, but didn't block me (should I be grateful)? Note, most of my FB posts are and have been non-political, and these days, usually non COVID in content. She used to engage me in the shared interests that brought us together in the first place nearly 20 years ago. It probably doesn't help that she has no biological background whatsoever to begin with - I have had to remind myself before this blow up happened, that you really can't discuss medicine with some one who swears by homeopathy (ie, the placebo effect).

The other situation happened when I responded to another friend on his wall. He posted some cut and paste garbage from some woman who wanted to show up at everyone's homes who used garden centers, and trample their gardens, for putting people at risk by doing non-essentials such as gardening, even if the centers were open because they were attached to Home Depot or something. I wrote back, admittedly this time a bit testily, noting she'd better not come to MY garden, or she'd regret it. (I grow vegetables to eat - so I don't HAVE to go to the grocery as often as she will, once summer hits.) He was Not Amused, and defended his post. I may be dropped. Dunno - not the level of closeness of the first person I discussed, and that one still bothers me.

SO, yeah, it happens from both sides of the Not So Great Divide. But I'm not deleting people for their opinions. Although some headers for some posts make my eyes glaze in hopelessness. Usually just not worth responding.

That's how I pick my "battles". If I know the person personally, I will respond to a post no matter the subject. If I don't know them, I usually don't engage. I have found it rare to actually change someone's mind, though it has happened once that I know of. It's not worth the effort and aggravation. I do read most posts to get other perspectives, but I don't offer my opinion unless it's someone I know.