Seven Villages, Janet Joakim

 In the past few days, I have been at a function in Chatham, a meeting in Orleans, a visit with friends from Falmouth, at several meetings and just out and about from the grocery store to the beach.

 I have been doing a lot of catching up with people, and many from all over the Cape many want to give their two cents about the recall and the crazy group of bloggers who cause so much trouble here in our town.

This is so incredibly sad. 
Blogging is such a great tool, with lots of potential!
But, so many people just cringe at the word and shake their heads.
The discussions all lead to these associations:
Blog = “where the crazies who can’t get their letters to the editor published anymore get together.”
Bloggers = “crazy conspiracy theorists who use profanity and vitriol and attack — anonymously.”

“I clicked the linked from the CCTimes story online and was disgusted,” One person told me. “Who are those people and why are they so full of hatred?”

There is no question that any form of government needs its critics. That has been the role the press has taken since the beginning of journalism in the US. Blogging offers everyone the chance to ask the questions, discuss the answers, and debate the issues.
But people like our local blogger in pajamas and his crew have given goverment critics a bad name.

How can we have a healthy debate about the care and future of our town when those who raise their voices have filled the room with hate and slander?

What about the legitimate questions?

What about the legitimate debates?

Why does it have to be “either you’re with us or you’re not!” If you don’t join in the corruption-qest, then you are “one of them.”

We need to discuss this, and continue to discuss this until we find a way for good people with the right intentions to have honest debates. We need to find a way to work around those who are happy only when dividing in a quest of conquer. It is the only way we can begin to heal.

Blogging would be a great way to start! I have heard from many people in the past two weeks about posts on this blog. When I invite them to post their comments on the blog, the conversation ends. “NO, I have no intentions of getting involved in that stuff”

I think there are people who are even afraid they will become targets of viscous attacks if they respond. I have guaranteed that, despite the fact that one needs to give me an email address to register, I will be sure that anyone who comments will only identified by their chosen user name.

Many have invited me to share their thoughts and sentiments in my posts without naming names, but won’t sign in and comment themselves.

What a shame!

I see my own college-age kids making use of blogs and I believe they will be utilizing this tool for so many areas of their lives… while it passes the rest of us by.

Unfortunately, for many people a blogger is someone like Gary Lopez, who posts about his perceived corruption that sneaks through the corridors of town hall and is waiting around every corner for the opportunity to jump into your wallet and steal your money.  And those who participate in discussions are like John Julius - whose COMMENTS are so long!!that they are HARD!to read AND full of CAPITALS! and EXCLAIMATION points, and HATE, AND threats, and WARNINGS that your life as YOU know it will END  because you are a LIAR!! LIAR!!  and we are going to GET YOU!!!!!! (did he actually write liar liar pants on fire?)

The King of Cog and his merry marionettes have created an image that turns people off.

The perception is that to blog, is to use strong and offensive language, including racial, sexist and ethnic slurs, stooping to the lowest lows….and most sane people don’t want to be a part of that.

This is a medium that is used all over the world, and yet in our little community people are afraid to use it themselves because of its association with the COG blog and its supporting dog blogs…

I hope we can find a way to change that….. we need to have healthy debates about real issues. We need to use real numbers and facts, and share real ideas and find real solutions.

I hate to see this median slip through our fingers…….

let me know what YOU think…..

where is the “fairy tale?”

Due to technical difficulties, the fairy tale will be delayed ANOTHER week- we were hoping to launch it this week, but all of the image files were corrupted ( was it the evil trolls ?) or was it simply the fact that we tried editing it with an html editor and the code for the images was lost in the transfer? Personally, I think it was the trolls

what is going on with real estate, today, in centerville. Did you see that team hit 300?