Unfortunately facebook in its current implementation seems hellbent on encouraging people to be prats.

That doesn't fit what I've seen on Facebook. A better description, "for many people, ranting about their political opinions on Facebook seems to be fulfilling for them." The only way it impacts their lives is that it was the source of their entertainment for the day.

Email and text, like Facebook posts, are all instantaneous means of communication, unlike sending a letter. Email and text are actually better too, because I can send the article directly to the recipients I intend on sharing it with, as opposed to a Facebook post, which is like an email, except the To: field is populated with <my entire address book, potentially>