I received a note from MonroviaNow reader Janet Wall lamenting the tone of the current council/mayor race on social media sites, such as Facebook. She asks, "If the tone of the campaign is this hostile this early, how bad will it be as the election date gets closer?"
She challenges candidates to:
Run a civilized and respectful campaign
- Stick to the issues
- Do not engage in personal attacks on your opponent
- Discourage “anonymous” postings on social media as most mean-spirited posts come from anonymous posts
Think of the long term good of the city
- Will mean spirited and untrue comments help the City when the campaign is over?
- Will remarks that are made by candidates, and their supporters, make it impossible for people who supported different candidates to work or volunteer together after the campaign?
- Will the tone of this campaign reflect the values of the City and will it make the citizens of Monrovia proud of its leaders and future leaders?
She says, "Let’s not allow this election to tear the community apart."
COMMENT: I've not seen nasty comments by the candidates themselves, though I have seen some from their supporters. I do allow anonymous postings on MonroviaNow.com and have had some minimal problems as a result. I bleeped one comment and wrote a warning in another instance. I allow anonymous postings because I don't want to put any hurdles in the way of people making their voices heard, and so far it has not gotten out of hand, so at the moment I'll keep it the way it is, but I agree with Janet Wall, please keep it civil.
- Brad Haugaard
Some smart person coined the term ... Silence is golden, My mother used it often. Some other person, one even smarter than the first, in my opinion no less, coined another term ... The silence is deafening. Well ... The latter term fits this blog site to a tea. Funny thing is 2 of the Bravest Empowered Monrovian's stood before 5 village elders to boldly and fearlessly speak their minds. Janet and that MAN made me proud. I was the fly on the wall at the back of the room.
ReplyDeleteJanet ... I am part of your clan. If you are so inclined please call me at 626-484-3206. Lets share our empowered conditions. I also request for the man who stood up at the meeting to call me as well.