February 22,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Controlling “exactly what people think” is the job of the media, MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski boldly declared Wednesday morning.
Here’s a transcript:
SCARBOROUGH: “Exactly. That is exactly what I hear. What Yamiche said is what I hear from all the Trump supporters that I talk to who were Trump voters and are still Trump supporters. They go, ‘Yeah you guys are going crazy. He’s doing — what are you so surprised about? He is doing exactly what he said he is going to do.'”
BRZEZINSKI: “Well, I think that the dangerous, you know, edges here are that he is trying to undermine the media and trying to make up his own facts. And it could be that while unemployment and the economy worsens, he could have undermined the messaging so much that he can actually control exactly what people think. And that, that is our job.”
Brzezinski’s comments are a reminder of darker days in Ridgewood , when the previous mayor made a concerted attempt with his allies to squelch free speech in Ridgewood. At the civility forum in February of 2015 over 300 residents sat there and took it when they were told by various speakers they were not allowed to speak unless they said what they were told to say.
Civility forum moves forward to squelch public dissent
February 25,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ed Koch once said,”If you agree with me on 9 out of 12 issues, vote for me. If you agree with me on 12 out of 12 issues, see a psychiatrist.”
But not according to Stephen Borg, Publisher and President, North Jersey Media Group, who insisted that the whole problem is that since people have found their voice through social media they have come to so many different opinions civil discourse has fallen.Things were so much better when North Jersey Media had a monopoly on public discussion and could always dictate terms. Borg implied that elites like himself are the only ones qualified to make those decisions. Borg pointed out how this blog and its anonymous posters are the greatest enemy to not only American Democracy but to the dominance of North Jersey Media Group. While I was rather flattered that the Publisher and President, North Jersey Media Group thought this blog shook the very foundations of civil discourse and was viewed as the barbarians at the gate, I would suggest the far larger problem might be the totally bias and slip shot reporting of his Media Empire. Borg set the tone for the evening which came down silencing critics and reasserting the elitist “we know better than you ”, so time to be quite.
https://theridgewoodblog.net/civility-forum-moves-forward-to-squelch-public-dissent/
