{"id":6784,"date":"2012-10-28T08:26:19","date_gmt":"2012-10-28T12:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=6784"},"modified":"2012-10-28T08:27:47","modified_gmt":"2012-10-28T12:27:47","slug":"this-virtual-community-your-very-real-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2012\/10\/28\/this-virtual-community-your-very-real-voice\/","title":{"rendered":"This virtual community, your very real voice"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The last couple of weeks, I’ve noticed a distinct drop-off in the quality and civility of In Box comments.<\/p>\n

This isn’t localized to one political leaning.\u00a0 I’ve seen fairly liberal folks saying dumb, predictable and hurtful things.\u00a0 And I’ve seen fairly conservative folks doing very much the same.<\/p>\n

So let me just remind everyone of basic principles.\u00a0 This blog exists to foster conversation and ideas, not as a place to settle scores, repeat political talking points or grind axes.\u00a0 If that’s what you want– for some inexplicable reason — you have 99% of the political blogosphere at your disposal.<\/p>\n

Now before I continue my finger wag, let me acknowledge that in a metaphorical sense we’re all at the end of a long, long political debate.\u00a0 The election is just a little over a week away.\u00a0 Nerves are raw.\u00a0 The stakes are high.\u00a0 This may seem like the last, best chance to get in your last, best digs.<\/p>\n

I want to encourage you to resist those temptations and harken to your better angels.\u00a0 (Yes, I’m casting myself here as a better angel…)<\/p>\n

So…principle number one:\u00a0 Be original.\u00a0 You guys are never more empowered than when you are thinking original thoughts, framing arguments that you have created yourselves, with research and facts that you have uncovered and dots you have connected.<\/p>\n

If you are repeating someone else’s catch-phrases or conspiracy theories — especially without doing a hell of a lot of fact-checking — it’s both unproductive and boring.<\/p>\n

Principle number two:\u00a0 Listen.\u00a0 I know it sucks, but sometimes people you disagree with have better ideas than you do.\u00a0 Sometimes they’re just plain right.\u00a0 Or at least they say things that are worth taking on board.\u00a0 So before you fire back, read carefully, think, process.\u00a0 There’s no hurry, right?<\/p>\n

Principle number three:\u00a0 Be friendly.\u00a0 Not just civil.\u00a0\u00a0 Friendly.\u00a0 The other people commenting on this blog are doing the same things you’re doing:\u00a0 raising a family, earning a living, thinking, grappling with a confusing world.\u00a0 They disagree with you?\u00a0 So what?\u00a0 Be friendly.<\/p>\n

And if anyone tells you not to be friendly toward other Americans who disagree with you — give them wide berth.\u00a0 Because that’s creepy.<\/p>\n

Final principle:\u00a0 Be passionate and let others be passionate.\u00a0 None of the above means we all have to agree, or fold our tents.\u00a0 Heck, no.\u00a0 Democracy is compromise, but it’s also argument.\u00a0 So argue…but only in the way that you argue with people who you know are on the same side in the ultimate sense.<\/p>\n

As I’ve said before, after the election we’ll be revisiting the future and the structure of the In Box.\u00a0 Not sure yet where that conversation will go.\u00a0 But for now, let’s wrap up this big election with the kind of discussion that would make us all proud.<\/p>\n

This is maybe grandiose, but sometimes I like to imagine someone far outside the North Country stumbling across one of our conversations and thinking, Wow.\u00a0 Those people are really lighting it up.\u00a0 I wish our community was having that kind of discourse.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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