Facebook Peer Pressure on "Unfriending"

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This isn't new in the deaf community but I do have an opinion on this subject when it comes to "unfriending" any mutual friends in Facebook. First and foremost, it is none of my business to try and force people in my mutual friends list to "unfriend" certain people just because I don't like them. Threatening to expose my mutual friends or friends publicly by shaming them for friending certain people that I find unsavory, undesirable or not likeable for whatever reason in order to get them to "unfriend" is really not my business to do so.  Doing so is a petty and immature thing to do. The people on my mutual friends or friends list are capable of making their own determination in their own time on whether to unfriend a person or not that I happen to not like. I have my own reason to unfriend certain people but that doesn't mean I hate them. Just that I have my reasons.

I consider it as a mob mentality when people in Facebook try and force others (peer pressure) on their mutual friends or friends list to "unfriend" certain people they do not like once they discover who they've friended with. And in the process threaten to unfriend them if they don't do as they say while they attempt to shame them in the process. First and foremost, if people do that to me then that means they do not respect me as a friend and in turn I would find them to be not credible friends in the first place for behaving like that.  I don't what to be a part of a petty group who work on using peer pressure just because they have some insecurity issues they can't handle. Save that for pimply faced teenagers. But the incredible thing is that these are adults who have behaved in that manner.

Now, I have several mutual friends who are friends with undesirable people in Facebook that I don't like but I don't make it my mission to shame them into "unfriending" the people I don't like and threaten them that I'd unfriend them if they don't. Nor do I run to other people and create a buzz buzz about so and so who is friend with this really undesirable person in order for the group to create a peer pressure to try and get the person to "unfriend" this undesirable person. Really, it's none of my business to do that and it shouldn't be yours, either. In time in Facebook you will eventually get to see who your real friends are but once they cross the threshold of being petty to try and use peer pressure on you then you know what to do. For many in the deaf community peer pressure is what they do best and they use that to bludgeon  people in order to get them to follow their petty agendas.

Not good.

This whole mob mentality thing is just like mad gossiping run amok. We just don't know who is telling the truth or the whole story.  People who are friends with certain people in Facebook that you don't like may not know the whole story. Maybe they don't care because it amounts to gossiping and they have no need for it. Maybe they don't want to get involved. Or maybe they just don't know the person they've friended with to make any certain determination to "unfriend" him or her for the time being. There are two sides to every story and people have the capability to make their own determination in their own time without the need of petty peer pressure telling them that they better "unfriend" the person or I will "unfriend" you! Or something to that effect.

Sad, really.

Respect is a two way street. Being a part of a mob mentality and using peer pressure to "force" others to change their friends status is not about showing respect. Respect is about recognizing a person's capability of making their own determination on when to "unfriend" a person in Facebook without the need of using peer pressure, shaming, or threats of "unfriending" him or her. It becomes a sad state of affairs when I see those things happen in the deaf community. It makes it a more uglier world out there.

If you are a victim of peer pressure or fear losing a friend because of your friending certain people in Facebook that he or she doesn't like then that "friend" of yours is no friend at all if she or he behaves like that. That's probably a signal for you to step back and see who your real friends are in the Facebook world.