Comment 54134

By mystoneycreek (registered) - website | Posted December 31, 2010 at 08:29:12

Are we too lowly a life form to be considered by your high and mighty councilors?

..and this statement unwittingly speaks volumes, illustrating something of a foundation nature, an underlying 'Us vs Them' dynamic. (And I suspect maybe a little of the 'Hamilton Can't Do' malaise, too) Fascinating how those people we elect to serve us (and how many incumbents were returned this past election? Hmm...?) seem to elicit so negative a mention, that you chose to frame them in this way. (For the record, if you're so inclined, you'll find scads of posts on my site tagged 'Civic Engagement', dealing with my belief that things will only get better in local governance when we see a paradigm shift on the part of the citizenry, a wholesale increase in 'the relationship of engagement' with its Councillors. And I'll add once again that this passion of mine was inspired by something Editor Ryan had included in a private email to me this summer, eventually posted here on RTH by him just before the election.)

From a recent chat I had with a friend: "I think that you should keep in mind that this stuff is all 'online'. Meaning there's no 'oomph' behind it. A rally? Yes. Demonstrations? Yes Their own town-halls? Yes. But in and of itself? No. No power. Not when a very small number of people are actually posting, and very little actual dialogue or discourse takes place, but rather willful territory-marking.

There's no 'power' on sports message boards. No power on film message boards. Yadda, yadda, yadda. I suspect that in a strange way you've been caught up in the same wave as those who fervently cling to their social networking as being The Electronic Way. And then point to examples where Facebook made a change in some effort. But they fail to acknowledge that there has to be a transfer of energies to the 'real world'.

For me, the truth is that RTH is (at the worst of times, which are far more prevalent than most might concede) the electronic equivalent of a pub. A village piazza. A barbershop. It is a wonderful opportunity to exchange ideas, share perspectives...but it has no value at all (at least none anywhere approaching what some of its more ardent 'echo-chamber enthusiasts' believe) unless something is actually done. You know, in the real world and not merely in cyberspace."

(By the way; if Councillors have become 'high and mighty', if that's the way people regard them, then I lay the blame at the feet of the people. They're the ones of whom only 40% vote, 60% of which do so as a result of 'name recognition'. They're the ones who effectively shrug and don't make any effort to get involved in the process. They're the ones who just...can't...be bothered. They're the ones who have, by dint of apathy, created this situation. Hence all the editorials on my site addressing the problem.)

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