You've Got A Friend

I've lost count over the past few weeks of how many people have asked me about getting a friend request from a particular Caledon Councillor.  Of course, most of them didn't realize who that person was and asked me if I was familiar with them or if I had received the same request.  I chuckled.  Actually, I snort laughed. I asked them how it felt to be treated like click bait or how happy they were to be electronically culled into the social media streams that the ilk of a small-town version of the Orange man and the Russians had used to dupe millions of Americans with fake news.  It's become quite an interesting talking point behind the local scene and trust me, there is plenty of talk.  Yes Bolton, you've got a friend.  Or maybe not. This is a friend who, for no other reason than political gain, wants to tap in to your online portal.  Is it all a coincidence that we are approximately 12 months away from an election? 

Most recently this person has been chiming in on a very regular basis on local Bolton Facebook pages. For the most part it's really just what I refer to as "faux cooing" and that expression, in of itself, makes me giggle.  In a nutshell it encapsulates what this person is all about. It's a candy-coated conversation akin to rubbing butter on the turkey.  Get out your baster. Then came a particular post on a small local Bolton page, that is supposed to be about community, events, businesses and just all-around activities in and around Bolton.  To be clear, this wasn't just a post.  It was an all-out diatribe with guns a blazing and a lawn dart pointed directly at a Caledon blogger, with a blatant attempt to discredit this writer. The blogger isn't named, which, in my opinion, is done on purpose.  After all, why drive anyone to his blog by naming him, right?  So I’ll do it for you.

If you aren't reading local blogger, Skid Crease, you should be.  Hands down, Skid Crease is the best political blogger in Caledon that I’ve read in a long, long time. He is smart, well researched and he knows his stuff.  Skid is not the political hack writer that this Caledon Councillor(s) would have you believe.  He's got serious writing cred along with legit press credentials and what he is writing about is spot on target.  There were a couple of five-star posts that were absolute mic drop moments that should not be missed by any Caledon resident.  I especially enjoyed "Defamation and Libel and smears ohmy!" as well as Skid’s post "Caledon: Creating a Climate ofTruthiness"   Of course these posts, in particular, would explain why the intent by this Councillor was to literally try and drop kick his blog and his credibility in to oblivion. Read it for yourself.  Make up your own mind up perhaps, before you hit accept on that friend request, you may give pause.  

Back in February 2016 I wrote a post called “Her Brand is Crisis”.  More than ever, it is relevant and I’m going to bring that post back around to what we see currently unfolding, particularly here in Bolton, with this whole urgent health care centre business that a couple of Councillors are kicking up dust about.  Not all is as it appears to be, then again, it never is. In closing, I would say to those of you who are moderators of those local FB pages, please let’s just use some common sense and ask that you recognize how some people are trying to manipulate and use your community pages for their own personal political agendas.  Take ownership of your pages and delete this crap and let your page be what it was intended for.  The community that you love so much will be all that much better for it. 

Respectfully,

Christine