{"id":3084,"date":"2011-08-08T11:08:07","date_gmt":"2011-08-08T16:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/?p=3084"},"modified":"2011-08-08T11:13:58","modified_gmt":"2011-08-08T16:13:58","slug":"spread-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2011\/08\/spread-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Spread It"},"content":{"rendered":"

Facebook often is positive, and rightfully so. A Brick<\/strong> from 11 months ago supported that: The Future Just Showed Up: Like<\/em><\/a>. Facebook is not all feel-good happy talk but controversy and deliberate negativity get moved down and out quickly — posts get “hidden” and friends become “unfriended.”<\/p>\n

My last weekend post fell in between. Sunday afternoon I wrote a message on my Facebook wall for discussion:<\/p>\n

Ever wonder about those fancy coffees and other products that promise to donate 5% of the price to some worthwhile charity?
\nHere’s how to donate at least 6% to education, law enforcement etc. in Arkansas: Buy school supplies anytime but today. (9.25% in Fayetteville)
\n2011 Sales Tax Holiday<\/a> http:\/\/www.dfa.arkansas.gov\/offices\/exciseTax\/salesanduse\/Pages\/taxHoliday.aspx<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It got one “like” from a friend. Another friend reposted this to her wall, where it got no comments or “likes.”<\/p>\n

First point is this seems normal for me, with 341 Facebook friends. Over three-fourths of my postings — I’ll send something up about 10 times a week — get no visible response. Responding to everyone all the time is not how Facebook works.<\/p>\n

Second thought is I might have overshot. I was subtly, maybe too subtly, commenting on the national debt crisis. The Washington compromise promised spending cuts but no revenue changes at all, not even closing loopholes. Taxes pay for things we all expect. They’re not voluntary so they have to be fair. Waste must be kept to a minimum, which requires continuing oversight. That’s here, and nationally. I want the ambulance here in five minutes, and if there’s a nationwide pension, defense and now health care, I’ll pay but it better be done well.<\/p>\n

So I didn’t buy sunglasses, shoes or even a ream of paper on School Tax Holiday Weekend, which were exempt from sales tax. I’m heading to Wal-Mart today (buying very few if any “school” supplies, incidentally). And pay my rightful share back into the community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Facebook often is positive, and rightfully so. A Brick from 11 months ago supported that: The Future Just Showed Up: Like. Facebook is not all feel-good happy talk but controversy and deliberate negativity get moved down and out quickly — posts get “hidden” and friends become “unfriended.” My last weekend post fell in between. Sunday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-loose-talk-of-town"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1301,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2009\/06\/why-not-give-at-the-po\/","url_meta":{"origin":3084,"position":0},"title":"Why Not Give at the P.O.","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"June 3, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"(Yes, Eudora, there is a great short story titled \"Why I Live at the P.O.\") During the boom economy, canned food drives always seemed odd to me. When a supermarket had a barrel near the door for customers to place an extra food staple for the poor, I would not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Body, Home, Street"","block_context":{"text":"Body, Home, Street","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/body-home-street\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1037,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2009\/03\/row-your-boat-ashore\/","url_meta":{"origin":3084,"position":1},"title":"Row Your Boat Ashore","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"March 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm vacationing in Lebanon, using this time to get up to speed on Facebook. How's Arkansas treating you? Let me know when you can. Bye, Michael\" This came last August. I had just joined Facebook as well. After seven months, I figured out a reply. I delayed writing for two\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life Lessons"","block_context":{"text":"Life Lessons","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/life-lessons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":266,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/01\/death-by-editing\/","url_meta":{"origin":3084,"position":2},"title":"Death by Edit","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"January 31, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"A news release from the public relations office of the University of Arkansas, the \"University Relations,\" recently announced that noted writer Ellen Gilchrist, of the UA Creative Writing and Translation Program, had an essay published in last November's Smithsonian Magazine, \"Watching Water Run: My Kind of Town.\" The essay is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Course of Words"","block_context":{"text":"The Course of Words","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/course-of-words\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7360,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2022\/10\/run-a-tab-on-tabbouleh\/","url_meta":{"origin":3084,"position":3},"title":"Run\u00a0a Tab on Tabbouleh","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"October 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"It was in the afternoon break between Yom Kippur services the other day when my stomach growled for tabbouleh after sundown. I usually hit a market on the way home for items to donate to a shelter (my congregation traditionally collects these at the end of the Day of Atonement),\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sides"","block_context":{"text":"Sides","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/kook-cooks\/sides\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Two small bowls of tabbouleh","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/tabbouleh-for-lunch-out.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/tabbouleh-for-lunch-out.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/tabbouleh-for-lunch-out.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/tabbouleh-for-lunch-out.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/tabbouleh-for-lunch-out.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/tabbouleh-for-lunch-out.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2217,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2010\/09\/the-future-showed-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":3084,"position":4},"title":"The Future Just Showed Up: Like","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"September 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The following is my column for the September 2010 edition of monthly newsletter of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Last year I asked my Facebook friends on my \"Wall,\" where conversations are texted (Is this English?), \"Why are people so upbeat on Facebook?\" I'd been on Facebook a few\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Course of Words"","block_context":{"text":"The Course of Words","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/course-of-words\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":345,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/08\/sale-of-a-century\/","url_meta":{"origin":3084,"position":5},"title":"Sale of a Century","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"August 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Not to cast doubt on my communications business but here is my story. It's anecdotal yet true: I've discovered craigslist. My Beloved and I have spent the summer fixing up the house we call Shady Hill, doing things we've meant to do for a while, some of which since we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Brick Bats Reportage"","block_context":{"text":"Brick Bats Reportage","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/brick-bats-reportage\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3084"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3094,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3084\/revisions\/3094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}