Facebook seemed like a good idea when it started back in 2004; but I’m not so sure anymore. I can’t imagine that Zukerberg ever dreamed his software application would create such a stir with its lengthy tentacles reaching the world’s corners and consumers far and wide.

Who could have foreseen the power social media would bring to the masses. Preteens, teens, adults, the retired, and the elderly alike now have access to daily up-to- the-minute information about whatever topic they elect to “Like.”

How about incessant “sharing” and “check-ins?” To some, like the former Facebook employee Josh Elman, the practice of social sharing is more than just a fad. “Because of Facebook,” he says, “sharing is now a human instinct.”

How about Facebook’s “News Feed?” It’s this aspect of Facebook that the company has focused on most closely over the past year. Zuckerberg has high hopes for his News Feed. His goal is to create the worlds best “personalized newspaper” customized for each Facebook user.  He plans to identify what people want to see and when they want to see it even if they don’t know themselves.

Facebook has changed many things since its inception, some good, some not so good, including from how we view privacy all the way to new and better ways to bully others.

During the 2008 presidential election Obama used the Internet, and specifically Facebook, to blow past competitor John McCain.

During the Arab Spring in 2010 it even changed the Middle East with new heads of government placed in four different countries, including Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Libya.

It seems lately that many of these changes have begun to hit home here in good ole San Pedro, CA. It’s like the “you say potato, I say patatta, you say tomato I say tamatta” song.  Whatever, is it really that important?

Civil discourse is becoming harder and harder to find, especially on Facebook. As an example, here in San Pedro, some folks want to clean up our streets, restore law and order and create a safer environment for our children and the rest of us.

Those that espouse those views are immediately criticized by homeless advocates who feel that their cause is being targeted and/or rejected for the sake of public safety.  We all want the homeless, the mentally ill, the drug addicts and the criminals to be taken care of in a humane way. Our government has let us down on all fronts. But to be sure, some of the chaos has been created by the un-informed voters that have voted for the asinine ill-conceived laws we now have on the books.

We have several Facebook Groups in San Pedro – [San Pedro, CA], [Saving San Pedro], [Save Harbor Park], [San Pedro California Area], [San Pedro Business Report Card],  [Helping Homeless in Need- San Pedro, CA], [San Pedro Business Neighborhood Watch],  [Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Watch], [San Pedro It’s Talk Time], and [San Pedro Creative Homeless Solutions]. If I have omitted your Group please forgive me.

We HAVE to stop and work together.  We are fighting for and want the same thing; a peaceful co-existence with our brothers and sisters on safe streets.  To support one Group, action or cause does not automatically make one opposed to the ideas of another Group.

Again people, we all want the same thing.  A wise man once said, “What if I told you that the left wing and the right wing belong to the same bird.”

Check your egos and agendas at the door and get it together folks.