March 4,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, from time to time over the years the Ridgewood blog has been criticized for providing a forum for anonymous free speech. Over the years some of the criticism has admittedly been valid ,but most of the time its part of a which hunt looking to punish and take out the poster .
The experience and fate of the Ridgewood “Math Moms “, having their children attacked and being almost driven from their homes , is one of the more egregious examples in semi recent Ridgewood history . While maligned in Ridgewood , the so called “Math Moms: who where not good enough to discuss education policy in the Village , but were invited to meet the President of the United States in the White House to discuss domestic education policy .
In recent history this blog has documented time and time again peoples businesses being targeted or bulled by coward and low life politicians who think that bullying the public is a legitimate political option .
Fact is “anonymous free speech” protects many who challenge the orthodox view in town , and lends airs to ideas that would otherwise often be suppressed because the person who mentions them is not considered “important enough” by the powers that be.
But more importantly Anonymous speech was a frequent feature of Founding father Alexander Hamilton’s life , and of the very founding America it self. Arguably the single most influential piece leading to American independence was signed simply “Common Sense,” Thomas Paine’s pen name. Just over a decade later, Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay co-wrote the Federalist Papers as “Publius.”…
Anonymous free speech was also used heavily in the deep south during the civil rights struggles and was integral in keeping supporters of civil rights from being lynched .
The bottom line is that it is highly probable that the United States would not even exist without anonymous speech. Sadly, we have forgotten this lesson somewhere in the intervening years. Today, anonymous speech is too often demonized, derided as “dark,” or otherwise dismissed for its lack of “transparency.” (https://www.ouramericannetwork.org/story?title=What-Hamilton-Teaches-Us-About-The-Importance-Of-Anonymous-Speech )
You fucking hypocrite! How many times have you exposed anonymous posters using wifi IP addresses!?
Fotlyn (spelling) is not a hypocrite. In the recent past I was posting comments on a controversial subject with my name, and then decided not to use my name. Fotlyn then revealed my first name in a comment he made to me on the blog. At first I was incensed, but friends told me, who read the blog, that they knew the anonymous comment was from me because of the style of the writing.
I have posted many times, really getting out my anger with curse words, on various issues, other times expressing myself in good English and always feeling better afterwards. So what if a few curse words are used from time to time. This blog is a forum for people to be human, to express how they really feel when they believe the town council or another area of govt is not doing a good job. Remember we care about this village; we pay taxes. We have emotions; that is a good thing, a great thing; and this forum allows us to express ourselves and encourages us to speak up at town meetings, e-mail our local govt. , and most of all vote. Long live the Ridgewood Blog.
What kind of language is that, anonymous 7:19am? Some people abuse PJ’s generosity in providing and maintaining this forum. Maybe you should find another place to curse and insult the host. Or start your own curse-laden blog. Free country, you know. No law against hypocrisy either, FWIW…
No one believes that posts on this blog bring the community together or promotes positive partnership or breaksvdown barriers. In fact it entices separation and division,
11:48 Spoken like a true lefty. Preach tolerance until there’s an opposing point of view, then get on the division soapbox. Yawn.
Taxpayer, by any chance, were you the one who in 2016 positively brought the community together by “anonymously” seizing and mangling your Ridgewood neighbor’s Trump for President sign less than three hours after he naively planted it in his lawn, thinking he was engaging in political speech protected by the first amendment? Or maybe it was your slightly more radical friend of otherwise equivalent progressive BLM SJW politics. Yeah, we know your type…
Truth hurts.. Agree with 1148
I love this blog because I can spread all the dirt about village hall . And they can stand it . Screw them .
The blog is the BEST and it provides more for this community than any lame facebook page ever could. For you hypocrites who post how much you hate the blog….why do you read the blog if you hate it? Why do you post on the blog if you hate it? Admit it, you love the blog. We all do.
The blog does provide a forum for those who feel disenfranchised. Nonetheless it is degenerating into a lot of profanities and now has become a 1 sided sounding board which is a shame. Its relevance is diminished because those with opposing views no longer feel comfortable posting. So if you want an amen corner, congratulations, you win.
All the members in Village hall lost their power When the blog was introduced. They have no control anymore like I did in the past. At one time the political power, the real estate power, the Board of Education, the woman’s club, controlled all the local news. Those days are done . And some can’t stand oh “ well ! I hear everything and see everything because I’m the mold on the walls and Bill dro I hear everything and see everything because I’m the mold on the walls in the village hall. I’m like a ghost. They never ever get rid of the mold that’s growing in the walls So I’ll be around for a while.
Against Fake Civility
Townhall.com ^ | March 5, 2018 | Kurt Schlichter
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They tell us that our uppity refusal to quietly submit to abuse and subjugation, both figurative and literal, makes us bad people. Not only can we live with that, but we should celebrate it.
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When the liberals and their squishy-soft allies in Conservative, Inc., start moaning about your dreadful incivility, that’s a clear indicator that you are doing something right and that you need to double down. Civility, once properly understood as a means to an end rather than an end in and of itself, has morphed from an aspiration into a political/cultural gimp suit designed to prevent you from effectively asserting your interests and your point of view.
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For liberals, civility is a grift – they think it’s a punchline and they’re waiting to laugh at you for embracing it. It’s a way to keep you from interrupting their non-stop attacks on your rights, your faith, and your dignity by convincing you that it’s somehow wrong to get upset when, say, some Astroturf Tot backed up by a bunch of leftist Red Guard orgs like Planned Parenthood and Move On starts shrieking that you have blood on your hands.
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For the Fredocons, civility is just an excuse for lounging on the Lido Deck while those of us not signed onto Team Submissive wade in and fight. It’s also an excuse to push back against the revolt of the Normals that their incompetent, self-serving bumbling created. They will never, ever attack the progressive cultural aggressors, those leftist savages spewing their death wishes against conservatives while saving the grossest sexual slurs for the brave female warriors whose will not back down in the face of progressive hate. Your refusal to knuckle under shames the sissycons.
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No, they will attack you when you resist. It’s unseemly to fight back, according to some True Conservative Principle™ we never heard of but that they insist is the central tenet of conservatism. Not giving in is not who we are, or something.
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So don’t swear.
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Don’t be mean.
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Don’t fail to get undone because maybe some of your allies failed to meet standards of propriety society tossed out the window two decades ago.
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Don’t win, whatever you do.
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Yeah, we’re done with their version of civility because their version of civility is a lie too. George W. Bush was civil, oh so civil, or so dignified. He was so civil and dignified that we got eight years of Barack Obama and we came that close to going under forever. But funny how Dignified George’s civility lasted for only eight years of his pal/successor then vanished once the guy who beat his soft bro to a pulp showed up and took what was supposed to be one of the Bipartisan Civility Crew’s gig. Suddenly, when someone who wasn’t part of the Approved Elite got elected, George found his ability to attack again. Of course, it was his own (supposed) side.
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Bush was not just attacking Trump. He was attacking us Normals for daring to elect Trump. Many of us defended him when he was busy being oh-so-dignified and civil. And when we defied him and his class, he turned against us. Like a true gentleman.
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Civility is a component of a system of reasoned debate, not its end product. Civility is necessary in a system where people reason in good faith in order to come to the best solution to the policy challenges facing them. Civility lubricates that process, and allows people of good faith to disagree without engendering unnecessary and destructive discord.
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People of good faith. See, that’s key.
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The problem is that progressives are not people of good faith.
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They are not trying to reason. They are not trying to compromise. They do not accept the basic concept that all American citizens have inalienable rights and that the law must apply equally to everyone. They hate us.
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We are sub-human, unworthy of courtesy or respect. We have no rights; they might allow us some control over our personal lives, for now, but we exist at their sufferance. That’s their view. That’s their basic premise – and if you ever go on social media they will tell you. So it’s no wonder that they feel no need to be civil.
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Wake up. The truth is ugly, but it’s still the truth.
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The hallmark of adulthood is putting away childish things, like the Pollyanna view that others must always be acting in good faith because we really, really want that to be true. Luckily, many of us have rejected the illusions and embraced the truth. And truth is more important than civility.
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The rational system that incorporated civility as a central component no longer exists. Why should we preserve that one aspect of the whole when the other side has gleefully tossed the rest into the bonfire? Because it’s nice? We’re not interested in nice. We’re interested in not having our rights stolen from us.
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Time to accept reality. We don’t share a common foundation of beliefs with our enemies – yeah, feel free to explode in a fussy fireball of fauxtrage because I call the people who constantly wish for my death on social media “enemies.” You can’t have a discussion or a conversation with people whose bottom line position is that you must be gone, or at least stripped of anything like your rights and sovereignty.
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All you can do is fight them.
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The problem is not that we Normals are not nice. The problem is that we were nice for far too long. The hate and contempt of the left for Normal Americans grew and grew without any challenge, with any cost, without any pushback, such that it was able to take root and become progressivism’s central premise.
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They never paid a price for their hate, not until now (Hi Delta!). They don’t like it, either – that’s why you see liberals constantly trying to use guilt and shame to get you to start playing by the old rules again. Notice how they never, ever prescribe that remedy to themselves?
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And the Fredocons? They’re as obedient as always to their class masters. They never, ever attack the left, but should you dare push back there’s not a pearl they’ll leave unclutched.
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This country is in grave danger of real chaos as the Normals confront an elite that seeks to rule it without accountability or challenge. Will the country split apart? Will there be armed conflict? The chances of those awful possibilities coming true are much, much greater if we give the other side the false impression that we are not deadly serious about defending our Constitutional rights to the death, if necessary. Hell, many of us are already sworn to.
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Civility is not a sign of weakness when a system of reasoned debate is in effect. But it is a sign of weakness, and will be taken as such by our enemies, when we cling to civility because we are too weak and afraid to admit the awful truth, that we are no longer a society ruled by reason but by power.
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You want a civil society again? Good – so do I. But the way to get it is not to surrender. It is to defeat those who want to crush you with lawless rulings by leftist judges, with economic warfare launched by woke corporations, and by the steady erosion of the rights your Creator granted you.
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If civility means submission, the hell with it.
The US is a police state now. Americans should be out in the streets with pitchforks and torches, but instead they would rather shut up, cover their ears, and put their heads in the sand.
Weird.