Franklin political group clamps down
After the election, FT in particular called out the administrators of several Facebook groups that cater to Franklin residents on a variety of issues. In doing so, there was matters worth commending them for - primarily the perspective that the administrators had in trying to keep their groups free and clear of topics that swayed from the overall purpose of the group itself.
When some, led by the Baleful Blogger himself, cried out that free speech was being limited or at the very least curbed back extensively, the administrator of the Franklin Area Community Page teamed up with another person and formed the "Franklin, WI Political Debate Page". The page gave members several things - it was intended to be specifically an outlet for Franklin politics, that its administrators were not responsible for the contents posted, and overall gave a vibe where people were to engage freely with their thoughts, even if it turned a little malicious and sassy with their words.
Unfortunately, something occurred that changed the rules of play.
A few days ago, the Baleful Blogger shared a blog post on the group - highlighting the tornado sirens installed in Franklin, and criticizing what he viewed as a waste of taxpayer dollars for an outdated method to warn residents of terrible weather approaching. Several hours later, two members posted comments critical of the post - with one of them calling the post stupid, the other labeling the post, "by far one of the most ignorant, disrespectful and fact-less articles I've seen posted."
Within hours of those comments posted, their names turned grey on the forum. Upon scrolling over their names, Facebook pops up and tells the viewer that the posts in the group are no longer able to viewed by either one of them.
Both individuals, for posting remarks critical of the Baleful Blogger's post, were banned from the group.
Seeing this, I took to the group and asked for an explanation. What caused such drastic measures to be taken? One of the administrators, a man known only as "Jacek Johnson", replied with the following:
"I meant to update the rules last night, but I lost power. The ban is only temporary, I just don't want the same shenanigans to happen in this page as it does in some of the other Franklin pages. I just didn't want it to spin out of control. I received a couple of complaints about the posts last night and shall type out a little reminder about conduct."
There are several problems with this response, which I tried laying out on the group page to no avail for hitting the common sense section of some brains.
1. There was never anything related to "conduct" posted on the group to begin with to remind anyone about.
2. The picture as the cover photo for the group is a group mud-slinging each other.
3. Whenever a post from FT gets shared on the group page, comments far worse than the post simply being "stupid" or "the most ignorant, disrespectful and fact-less articles I've read" are said. In fact, the comments spin seriously personal in nature - with people attempting to mock the owner of FT on body type, personal income, job status, personal political beliefs, living situation, etc. These comments (or those who posted the comments) have never been removed/banned from the group.
Most importantly, these are the same exact people who decried the actions of other groups limiting their free speech rights, yet whenever someone with a differing viewpoint than theirs discusses or publishes something they're first and center to pounce on and attempt to restrict or eliminate that person's right to an opinion.
The responses to my question were from the usual suspects in the "O-Patrol", and furthermore from "Mr. Johnson" himself. All the replies (again) focused on personally attacking the FT owner rather than actually addressing the double-standards that seem to be the norm for these individuals. It closed out with the administrator telling FT (original spelling and grammar included), "All you and your blog do is wine and complain. Start your own group if you don't like it. Is that original enough for you."
Nice. So Franklin residents who disagree with the Baleful Blogger or Mayor Olson's administration have essentially received their warning - live with the propaganda and bullying tactics or retreat and form your own group.
That is not how America was formed, but that is exactly how America today became so divided and angry. People hiding in their own inner circles to pat each other on the back regardless of how wrong or right the issues, and viciously attacking anyone who dares say otherwise, is how we are in a mess today.
FT would like to see everyone's political views and opinions allowed and freely expressed on a political group page, and call on the administrators to reverse a bad decision.