Do you ever just need a few moments to step back from a frustrating or angering situation to regain the composure and serenity you so desperately want – nay, need – to hold onto? I count to ten sometimes. Hell, sometimes I count until it sounds like I’m playing some kind of hyped-up extreme version of hide-n-seek…”50,000 mississippi, 50,001 mississippi…”
No, it’s not my work that’s doing it to me this time. The constant shaking of my head and whisperings of “what the f…” are not currently provoked by cruelty so much as stupidity. And it can all be traced back to Facebook and the “political argument.” The bane of society as we know it.
No matter how much I’m goaded, I swear to myself over and over that I will not be drawn into political arguments on Facebook, I will not be drawn into political arguments on Facebook, I will not be drawn into political arguments on Facebook, I will not be drawn into political arguments on Facebook…
Ugh. Move over wine, I think it’s time for the hard stuff.
Musings from a Tangled Mind 
Ack– I hate that site, man.
Never opened a Facebook account, never regretted it. As for politics, I officially stopped observing all news forevermore on November 9, for obvious reasons. Strange, but a lot of health problems have cleared up since then. Meanwhile, rum.
I’m not on Facebook but practice a similar mantra of not getting into political arguments with people in social media or face-to-face. I express my views with like-minded people to fill my need to vent. People with different views won’t listen to me anyway.
I have been known to count backwards from ten in German – saying each word with some “conviction” can make it sound like an impressive display, especially to someone who doesn’t understand a word of German.
But NOTHING beats counting backwards from ten in Klingon, although it tends to not defuse a tense situation since proper pronunciation requires you to spit with some regularity and velocity.