Lubbock Left

With the evolution of social networking websites comes a whole new set of awkward social situations.

My latest has to do with two gentlemen who are both candidates for Lubbock County Sheriff in the Republican Primary: Don Carter and Kelly Rowe. Both are capable, professional people with whom I have worked in the past. Because we were already facebook friends, I have been invited to join each campaign’s facebook presence.

What’s a well-meaning dude to do? I won’t be voting for either of them because I don’t vote in the Republican Primary. However, I don’t want to offend either person — each group I join will show up in my news feed, which all of my friends, including Don and Kelly, can see. However, if I ignore an invitation, I risk being rude.

Further complicating things is the issue of support. Does joining a group or becoming a friend/fan on facebook imply support? For example, I’m Randy Neugebauer’s facebook friend not because I support his re-election, but because I want to participate in the discussion accompanying my Congressman’s remarks on facebook. (If you’re reading this and are on facebook, you should do the same.) So, I honestly don’t think that facebook association implies support, but I can already imagine future-Rove running attack ads against future-Obama for facebook friending future-Ayers.

I’m probably overthinking this stuff, but it’s only a matter of time before online drama becomes mainstream political drama. In fact, we might be at that point already, given the Young Republicans President’s offensive facebook comments becoming news a few months back, not to mention the whole Sarah Palin “death panels” smear that began on her facebook page. Celebrity twitters and IM chats are already fodder for the 24-hour news cycle as well.

For my immediate situation, I will accept the invitation to both groups and hope that Don and Kelly don’t hold it against me. Good luck fellas; I hope you both run campaigns that you can be proud of.