Facebook Statuses: the New Battleground?

I've noticed lately that many individuals I'm "friends" with the social networking site Facebook are using the status feature for more than declaring their mood or telling people they're going to the gym.

Immediately after the election on Tuesday, I noticed a great number of my friends, both from the Dominican community and other schools, decided to use their status on Facebook to declare their opinion on the outcome of the race. These brief updates ranged from "So and so is proud to be an American," to "So and so has donated their status to remind everyone to vote for Barack Obama today. Donate your status: http://causes.com/election/etc..." to "So and so is Pissed. Obama is PRESIDENT OF THE USA! PRAY FOR AMERICA." And then there were statuses simply saying "I'm bummed about the election" or "This is history in the making!" or variations on those involving the names of both presidential candidates.

However, Facebook friends can comment on these statuses. The comments provided the warfields in which more political battles were and are still being fought. Comments deriding fellow friends as "morons," "uninformed voters" and so many more vile claims constantly popped up in my "newsfeed" upon logging on to Facebook. Since voters elected Obama on Tuesday evening, I've seen varying degrees of Facebook battling, complaining, griping and attacking over the outcome of the election. I'm aware that political beliefs are sacred and we're all entitled to defend our own, but I think those concerned about who won or lost the election should get over it and move on. Barack Obama is now every American's president, and that's how it's going to be for the next four years. We should come together and support the president, instead of further dividing ourselves and fighting about something that can't be undone.