Hey Johnnie

[sancarlos]

So I kinda want to make my 'big post' on Facebook now that I'm no longer active duty.

But, as always, I have reservations because does it even matter?

Regardless, this is what I have typed up:

[+] spoiler

Long post warning....

It's been nice getting all these kudos and attaboys from you folks whenever I post about my military service. But here's the thing. I went almost completely Facebook silent on 8 November 2016. The political climate at that time - and continuing still - was gross, toxic, and disgusting.

Because I was active duty I kept quiet because I didn't need my career to die over a political opinion. Now that I'm out with my DD-214 in my possession, I can have my political opinions again. Some of you aren't going to like what I say. Fine. Others will love it. Also fine. I'm friends with all of you regardless.

With that said, and knowing my thoughts ultimately mean nothing because I'm just one dude screaming into the void, here we go:

I had zero pride serving in the military while T***p was president. He was a disgrace and abomination. A completely true example of 'The Ugly American.' Furthermore, he legitimately lost the 2020 election. If you believe otherwise, you're unequivocally wrong, living in an alternate timeline, and need to break out of your cult-induced mania. After that loss, the only way for him to retain power was fomenting a coup. Thankfully it didn't work, but there's always next time.

Republicans' only policy platform is 'Owning The Libs.' Literally every step of progress that can be made is blocked by them because of this central tenet. All they care about is tax cuts for the wealthy and maintaining absolute power in any form available. They'll fight a neverending culture war to keep their aggrieved white base of voters angry and be raging hypocrites all the while. They've perverted the Supreme Court and by using the actual Deep State - The Heritage Foundation - they'll keep regressing this nation further into darkness. It sucks.

If you believe that religion should dictate government, please move to the Middle East. You hate the First Amendment, and by virtue of that, freedom and the American Experiment. Imparting Christian Sharia law by way of the Christian Taliban is a cancer that needs to be stopped. Making one religion the 'de facto' religion puts down all others to include the irreligious. The USA is not and never has been a Christian nation.

My pronouns are He/Him/His. Black Lives Matter. LQBTQIA+ rights are human rights. Women's Health Rights are paramount. Guns are fun, but they need better legislation. The military is actually a progressive institution that correctly changes with the times -- it isn't a 'WoKe MiLiTaRy.'

The US needs to legalize marijuana, make education affordable, and pass universal health care -- amongst so many other things. It's doable, but Republicans are fighting against it.

And, lastly, the Yankees suck.

If some of you aren't friends with me after that, no hard feelings. I just needed to get that shit off my chest. Have a nice day.

Should I go through with it?

Well, the Yankees DO suck, a bit.

[mister d]

Should I go through with it?

Ha, absolutely not.

[+] spoiler

Until you fix this sentence!!!

The political climate at that time was - and continuing still is - gross, toxic, and disgusting.

[The Sybian]

Johnnie, I love your post, every word of it. Post it if you want, but IMO there is no point. If it makes you feel some catharsis finally being free to speak your mind, let it rip, but it's not going to change anyone's opinion. You'll get some friends saying they agree, you'll get a lot of people arguing with you, and maybe here is some value, you might get people who violently disagree to say they don't want to be friends anymore. I stopped posting on FB almost completely. I'll very rarely to respond to a request for a contractor or something in the town forum or crack a joke at a friend's expense, but that's it. No good comes out of posting.

I do feel bad that my friends are deprived of seeing pics of my beautiful children, because my wife completely stopped posting also. She broke a several year streak to post a pic of a neighbor's lost dog, because they don't have FB.

[Johnnie]

Should I go through with it?

Ha, absolutely not.

[+] spoiler

Until you fix this sentence!!!

The political climate at that time was - and continuing still is - gross, toxic, and disgusting.

Ha. Good catch.

Johnnie, I love your post, every word of it. Post it if you want, but IMO there is no point. ...

Thanks. That's been my feeling completely. I'm going to have to sleep on it a bit and see how I feel.

Like, several days ago I posted that it was my final day on active duty with a photo of me with longer hair and a big beard that got a lot of positive response. But once those good feels go away I'm just chasing the next social media high, right?

So yea. It just seems like a dumb idea to do. I even got a message from a friend from like 5th grade letting me know that the federal contractor company she works for called Peraton that does background investigations is always hiring former military.

[Johnny Carwash]

I'm with Syb in the "there is no point" camp. And the same to what you inferred about not wanting to just chase a social media high.

By the way, it was neat to see you go from clean-cut troop to Zach Galifianakis in 6 weeks.

[mister d]

So I'm going to disagree a little bit here. I think there's no point if I do it or especially if you do it, but if a week ago ex-military member does, I think that could sway atleast one or two out of a hundred to, if nothing else, think for a second. Plus it'll be a great way to know who to mute or unfriend.

[Johnnie]

All valid points. If I do end up doing it you'll definitely know.

In my Instagram stories I have been more vocal, but only like 70-80 people even see that. So I'm giving my opinion to a much smaller audience.

[duff]

Post it.

[A_B]

So I'm going to disagree a little bit here. I think there's no point if I do it or especially if you do it, but if a week ago ex-military member does, I think that could sway atleast one or two out of a hundred to, if nothing else, think for a second. Plus it'll be a great way to know who to mute or unfriend.

I hate agreeing but yep

[mister d]

[GoodKarma]

Would totally post but you forgot to mention The Federalist Society in your deep state comment.

[Johnnie]

Would totally post but you forgot to mention The Federalist Society in your deep state comment.

For whatever reason I was thinking them, but wrote the Heritage Foundation.

Turns out I was half right!

[rass]

nice words and assemblage of them, shame to waste it here

[wlu_lax6]

I would use the swamp as your place to vent. Let this go. Not enough upside and potential for downside (future opportunities that may be valuable).

[tennbengal]

Man that's great Johnnie. Also, I would not post that. Or maybe I would. Just be prepared for weird blowback. And keep in mind the off-chance it might go viral. Are you prepared for that if it does?

[The Sybian]

I would use the swamp as your place to vent. Let this go. Not enough upside and potential for downside (future opportunities that may be valuable).

This is my life strategy.

[Steve of phpBB]

nice words and assemblage of them, shame to waste it here

I’m with this guy.

[Johnnie]

Man that's great Johnnie. Also, I would not post that. Or maybe I would. Just be prepared for weird blowback. And keep in mind the off-chance it might go viral. Are you prepared for that if it does?

Wouldn't really know unless it happened, honestly.

My Facebook is pretty anemic and so much of my social presence is locked down. Also, my wife doesn't have my last name, but she's easily find through my Instagram. If I'm searched via YouTube my retirement speech would come up.

So I don't know how that would play out.

[MaxWebster]

I just read it and I agree - I vote yes.

I think it's good for a lot of people - both those who might be stereotypically "pro-military" and those who are definitely not - to read how at least one successful retired military guy feels and felt. I kind of feel like if you lose anyone, you never really had them as friends anyways. And as d says here, if you sway just one person to even take a minute to think where they may not have... to me that sounds like it's worth it.

(said by someone with no skin in the game so it's infinitely easy for me to write this as opposed to you posting it)

So I'm going to disagree a little bit here. I think there's no point if I do it or especially if you do it, but if a week ago ex-military member does, I think that could sway atleast one or two out of a hundred to, if nothing else, think for a second. Plus it'll be a great way to know who to mute or unfriend.

[Johnnie]

Thanks for all of your thoughts, everyone.

I even ran it by a few friends here and they agree that this iteration of my soliloquy is far better than the original, antagonistic version. And they felt it got the point across without being horrible in tone and delivery. I learned a long time ago that not only do my non-verbals come off as strong, but everything I write is "in my voice" so they get how it comes across.

So, yea.... I'm going to post it here soon.

[The Sybian]

Damn, 36 responses and the biggest dissent is “I agree with some, not all.” Gotta be some attacks coming soon, unless they are all in Facebook jail or moved to Truth.

[sancarlos]

Damn, 36 responses and the biggest dissent is “I agree with some, not all.” Gotta be some attacks coming soon, unless they are all in Facebook jail or moved to Truth.

Check your fb messenger, Twitter dm’s, texts, and emails. Somebody will lash out, I’d guess.

By the way, great post, and brave of you to lay it all out there.

[Johnnie]

Thanks, fellas. For reference, I have 781 friends on Facebook. I do know that not everyone will see it in their feeds.

But it is kinda funny that getting likes when I'm wearing a uniform or post something military related gets engagement from ~200 people, but something like this has, at this time, 70 likes and 23 comments.

Oh well. Said my piece. And I'm retired now.

[Johnny Carwash]

It's 10:30 on Veteran's Day and I haven't seen any civilian-shaming posts from you on Facebook. Wtf?

[Johnnie]

It's 10:30 on Veteran's Day and I haven't seen any civilian-shaming posts from you on Facebook. Wtf?

Lol. School, man. I have a big finance exam tomorrow and this class is study intensive.

Plus I have the additional stress of the lockdown browser and it being timed so I'm putting so much effort into studying I'm not even going to go around and get free food today.