Facebook

I know I'm probably being tech-sacrilegious here, but I'm not wild about Facebook. I get on it from time to time and check for the birthday's of my friends, but there are days I don't even log on.
I have friends who spend a great deal of time communicating with their peeps.  Many times you get a faster response if you send them a message on Facebook than if you send them an email.
Facebook has given a voice to the masses, not only in the US, but in the rest of the world. There are more than 500 million users (the US population is only 360 million), and half of them log on to Facebook daily. Statistics show that we spend 700 BILLION minutes a month on Facebook.
I'm guessing a bunch of these folks are "on the clock" at their jobs, so I'd like to see how much this impacts the world economy.
Now where was I....my head is still spinning over the 700 billion minutes.....Oh yes, what Facebook has done is given anyone who has access to a computer, a voice.
I've seen some incredible stories, pictures, and videos on Facebook. I see a lot of people playing Facebook games....well, I don't actually see them since I've learned how to block the games from showing up on my live feed and for the most part, this is a good thing.
But I've also seen an underside to Facebook that I don't like at all. I've seen urban legends spread like a wind swept wildfire.
I've seen horrible things spread about politicians and other people. The recent outrage about Muslims building a mosque near the World Trade Center 9-11 site, was troubling as well.
People clumped  all Muslims together as terrorists. 
I've pointed out that a few whacked out "Christians" have committed atrocities too, but we would never point to Jim Jones, David Koresh, or other extremists and say all Christians are bad seeds.
When you look a little deeper into the Muslim mosque issue, you find that there is a Burger King closer to the 911 hallowed ground....there is a porn shop closer.
I seem to remember that on 911, people all over the world were shocked by the attacks, including Iran and other Muslim countries.  
The first amendment of the Constitution says"
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
This doesn't protect just the religion that we practice, it protects all of them. In order to keep my religion safe, I think we have to keep all religions safe whether we agree with them or not.
Fifteen of the nineteen hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, but I don't see anyone up in arms about how much oil we buy from the Saudi's every day. I have to believe that some of this money is going to extremists.
I'm guessing you had no idea that an entry that started out with Facebook would drift so far from shore, but I feel strongly that we as a country are fanning the fires of fear and hatred. 
It can be contagious if you let it...if you don't dig a little deeper and do your own thinking.
I believe that there are a lot more people in the middle who don't buy into the extremes on either end of the spectrum. People who are quick to give the benefit of doubt, and slow to judge....or that's what I want to believe.
OK, I've had my say. I'm stepping off my soapbox.  Feel free to let me have it in the comment section.