Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2011 14:32:53 -0500
From: Angela Blueskies
Subject: Curious… what are we doing with this chatlist?
Greetings, Chatham County.
I must admit, it’s been an interesting transition moving from a booming and progressive area – Baltimore/Washington DC – to Pittsboro just a few months ago. I am grateful to see that Chatham County has some things that are hopefully community-building, such as a chatlist, a co-op, and a farmer’s market. These are things that have been very nice about making my transition to living in a rural area, and have made my time here so far a mostly positive experience.
But I must say, I wonder what the purpose of this list is, truly?
I recently responded to a conversation regarding a very important issue on the global front: fracking. It seems that the moderator of this group considers himself an expert on the subject and has dismissed the whole conversation. To me, a progressive and well educated woman coming from a part of the US – the nation’s capital – I am very concerned with equal opportunities for people with opposing viewpoints on major issues, and I find this disturbing. See, to me, I believe that it is *VERY IMPORTANT* for people to be able to have back-and-forth conversations on major issues that affect all life on the planet. And when a small group of people determine that this kind of conversation is not worthy, and choose to promote their own ideas without any regard for looking at the whole picture, it concerns me greatly. We all have our biases and our limited sources of information, and it is only through becoming more well informed on all points of view that we can make truly wise decisions about how to create our future. To dismiss a major topic that is becoming a very real issue in Chatham County is not only biased, but foolish.
And yet, it seemed fully acceptable just a few weeks ago for people in this county to speak in hostile, derogatory language regarding local political candidates? To hurl personal opinions about those candidates around as if they were fact? Indeed, that was right when I, a new-to-town member of the chatlist, signed on to this group for the first time.
If indeed it is appropriate to speak in highly biased, negative language about opposing local political candidates, and yet it is not appropriate to provide valid, well-informed viewpoints on *major* issues such as clean, green energy, then I must say that I am highly disappointed in this chatlist and those who contribute to it. It is that kind of unspoken media bias that has become a virus in this country as it is, and I would have hoped that something as small as a community online chat forum could maintain a sense of openness and integrity to allow the full perspective of all the community to come forward.
So, I ask you: what *ARE* we doing with this chatlist? If this is a politically biased site, then come clean and state it as such so that people are clear about that. OR, make *all* major issues, political/environmental/social/etc, either completely welcome OR completely off limits for the sake of this group in order to make it truly a space for the community to come together without potential for these kinds of issues.
Peace,
Angela Blueskies
Please visit Angela’s Blogs:
www.gitaforperu.blogspot.com
www.fallingintotheheart.blogspot.com
www.mysticalroad.blogspot.com
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Angela –
I see you just joined this group on October 31st. That’s terrific! Welcome to the group.
It is awesome to have a progressive and well educated woman that comes from the nation’s capital join our little ol’ group.
This is a Chathamcentric list.
There are plenty of other venues to talk about plenty of other things. You are welcome to discuss the major non-Chathamcentric issues so *VERY IMPORTANT* to you on an array of other forums. Please do not limit yourself to only this chatlist.
As I have mentioned four previous times, the Chatham Chatlist is not a frackingcentric chatlist. (Neither is the Bynum chatlist.)
I had gone ahead and set up a fracking discussion group several weeks ago at http://groups.google.com/group/fracking-in-nc
The list currently has 23 members. I do not see your name in the membership list, however I suspect that if the subject is so *VERY IMPORTANT* to you, that you will be signing up *IMMEDIATELY*.
If there is a genuine and growing interest in the subject of fracking, people will make an effort to participate in and grow the group. If not, it will wither.
My apologies, but if this discussion group does not meet your needs, I can create a “Progressive women from Washington, DC who want to discuss VERY IMPORTANT Non-Chathamcentric Things” group.
BTW, could you please help me out? I have looked though previous chatlists and I can NOT find the exact place where I claimed to be an expert on the subject of Fracking. It might be an oversight on my part, but if you don’t mind, please snip that portion and send it to me. Thanks so much.
Bless your heart and have a nice day.
Peace,
Gene
Chatlist moderator
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