photo is Abraham Godwin the Patron Saint of the Ridgewood blog
April 30,2018
the PJ Blogger and the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, in Ridgewood It takes a village ,It takes a village to raise a child, It takes a village to worship Groupthink, It takes a village to become a lynch mob, yes it takes a Village . According to Thomas Sowell , “One of the most pathetic—and dangerous—signs of our times is the growing number of individuals and groups who believe that no one can possibly disagree with them for any honest reason.”
In the heat of the political season , the staff of the Ridgewood blog thought it would be a good time to review how the Ridgewood blog actually works .
The guiding principle of the Ridgewood bog can best be summed up by former New York Mayor Ed Koch, “If you agree with me on nine out of 12 issues, vote for me. If you agree with me on 12 out of 12 issues, see a psychiatrist.” The second principle can best be summed up with a quote from local landscape architect James Rose, “the problem is you live here” . Meaning that the issues you face in your community are your own fault ,not Trump, Bush, Anonymous posters or anyone else.
The nature of the Ridgewood blog is to generate discussion from a multitude of sources and contributors .We don’t expect everyone to love the blog. It is not a public service . Some of our biggest critics are often the best commentators. The fact that so many people in the Village are so engaged in the schools or the Village Council is part of what makes Ridgewood a great community.
Todays controversial post becomes yesterdays news; for example the blog questioned the use of parking meters ,was berated and years later someone was caught stealing the money from the very parking meters.
Anonymity is used to protect the posters from fear of retribution . Anonymity also equals the playing field forcing the reader to focus on the content rather than the posters standing in life .People only complain about anonymity because they are looking to exact revenge on the poster and stifle dissent. Everyone knows there are occasionally nasty comments , the nasty comments come from the same people that make them in town, at Village Council meetings and at sporting events . People who complain about comments not being represented or posted or censored are the people who make the nasty comments . Trolls and stalkers get blocked .
Just to be clear while the Mayor Knudsen , like other Village Mayors has been the subject of many posts on this blog , she is not a contributor to the blog as has been alleged. She has however on occasion graciously asked us to remove something or complained that a post was inaccurate or unfair to her one of her collogues . She would not be the only resident to do so.
The Ridgewood blog has also run articles and posts on Governor Phil Murphy and he is not a contributor either.
If you are the subject of a post on the Ridgewood blog , no one expects to answer every anonymous comment posted .
The Ridgewood blog is not a Newspaper .You are directly responsible for what you write . There are no protected sources. The Ridgewood blog is a peer to peer forum , with several administrators trying and sometimes failing to keep a balance . Those of you who use Facebook understand how quickly things can get out of control.
We are always promoting diversity in town , the Ridgewood blog represents diversity of thought and opinions.
The Ridgewood blog is not a Republican blog or Democrat blog , doubt it just ask the Bergen County Republican Organization. Yes the blog does have a tendency to represent non mainstream points of view . Its says right on the mast head ” The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues ”
I know totally radical , as bad as Kanye West’s declaration of support for President Donald Trump.
Much of the content is meant to be both informative and provocative, if that’s stirring the pot so be it. Periodically a post causes some public outrage, we suggest you save the outrage for the $110,000,000 school budget .
There are many contributors to the Ridgewood blog ,some write articles, some advertise, some send in pictures and comments, some comments become posts , some people live in the area and some are ex pats.
Because you contribute to the blog does not mean you agree with everything on the blog , once again , “If you agree with me on nine out of 12 issues, vote for me. If you agree with me on 12 out of 12 issues, see a psychiatrist.”
Opposing a particular idea ,like turf fields in flood zones, Valley Expansion , Ridgewood Train station expansion , cement bottom pools , high density housing , destruction of historical significant properties, and Garagezilla’s to name a few does not imply the Ridgewood blog is somehow against the organizations that propose theses ideas. We like Ridgewood Sports , just not turf fields in flood zones, we like Valley Hospital but the expansion was just far to big for the lot, we like development but the high density housing projects in the CBD are just too big and too nom conforming with the spirit of the towns downtown.
The Ridgewood blog attempts to focus on issues and ideas, however , bad behavior is bad behavior and no one is above reproach or given a free pass to act like a “jerk” . Unfortunately Some people can not separate themselves from issues they are passionate over and take everything personal.
If you have ever been upset be something on this blog , keep in mind that on this blog a commenter from town defended a child molester , someone defended children buying drugs from an armed drug dealer , many have defended driving 50 mph over the speed limit crashing their vehicle and complained about being photographed , many have defended hitting pedestrians , someone even defended the old parking meter system of stealing all the money , just to name a few things that upset most of the staff.
While the blog has many critics , its amazing how they come running when Valley Hospital or NJT looks to pave over their house for a project.
And finally we don’t confuse critics of content with enemies of the blog. The fact is that the real enemies of this blog are enemies of free speech and free thought .
