I have whited-out the name of my FB friend who had been randomly selected as one of my friends who likes the Paul Ryan Facebook pages. (A few other FB friends have liked that page.) The number of people who like the other Ryan page refers to, obviously, the total number of Facebook users who like it, not just my friends. (As with the Ryan page, I have FB friends who do like this other page, too.)
This is indeed rather funny, since again, these are pages that FB suggested I might like. Facebook's suggestions are based in part on what my pages my friends like. And since I have friends who have opposing political views, that, I presume, explains why Facebook might think I'd like Paul Ryan AND at the same time think he's a douchebag. Just as I have friends who like different pop music acts and other artists across a range of views, right? After all, maybe only two friends have liked the Bruno Mars page, and one of them likes the Grace Slick Fan Page, but I certainly can like both if I want. (I have "liked" neither page, and for a moderately active FB user I have few pages that I have officially liked, and I'm betting that my motivations in the future will be driven not by taste but by the desire to get free stuff.)
But can one really like both pages on Paul Ryan? Well of course you can! There's nothing to stop you from liking the pages of every politician on every side. Maybe you'd get more information that could help you decide which politicians you really like and which ones you think are douchebags. And these two pages are not necessarily mutually exclusive. After all, I might not like Ryan's political views, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I believe him to be a douchebag (although if I do think that he is one, I probably don't like him.) No reason to be extremist, really!
Nevertheless, the selections of pages I might like from social media like FB and Twitter are just plain funny; it's remarkable how wrong those algorithms are as they try to match your interests to other pages you might enjoy. And while the kind of selectivity can be problematic, restricting your points of view, in this case, because I have Facebook friends who are on opposite sides of this election, I have a chance of reading more stuff on all sides. (It's not likely to affect my vote in November, but it's very easy simply to turn off ideas from your political opponents without actually hearing them.)
(A note on language: I have not clicked on either of these two pages, so I cannot really discuss any specific posts from the Paul Ryan is a Douchebag page that might explain the views and ideas of those who created the page. Some people might be offended by the term "douchebag," but I will confess that it's an old insult that I remember finding very funny in my youth, and it still strikes me as hilarious when I hear it in movies like Mean Streets or And Justice For All. George Takei recently has taken to using the term to characterize homophobic politicians. I'm sure many a scholar has unpacked -- so to speak -- the various cultural meanings surrounding this insult and its relation to discourses of gender and identity. Fine. But I also think the humor in it is the very sound of the word; it just sounds funny to me, regardless of the various meanings to be found.)
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