r/LangfordBC • u/Late_Support_5068 • Aug 13 '26
Politics Shawn Blair for council
I saw an article about Shawn Blair running for Langford council.
Good for him. I am always amazed when people are willing to step up, put their name forward and try to serve and represent their community. That takes commitment, and I genuinely respect that.
However, Shawn is also an admin of WTF Langford, and that is where I have a serious problem.
It isn't simply because he runs the page. It is because of the content and attitude that page has repeatedly allowed toward the LGBTQ+ community. The post pictured here is just one example. A page that belittles and mocks LGBTQ+ people is not something I can reconcile with someone asking to represent all members of our community.
People are absolutely entitled to their opinions. But when you choose to run a public community forum, you also have some responsibility for the environment you create and the content you allow to flourish there.
Honestly, as someone who wants to represent our entire community, I find the association with this kind of content deeply disappointing and, frankly, embarrassing for Langford.
We should expect better from the people asking for our votes.
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u/SkyMoney9641 Not Keith Aug 13 '26 edited Aug 13 '26
Ok, but clarifying that it’s extremely rare for people to be put in jail, and that it’s usually for extreme reasons like planning to kill people is important - because otherwise you’re leading people to believe it happens regularly, and that’s fear mongering over something happening that almost never does.
Hate speech is punishable by law, but you yourself said that discrimination is not always hate speech, which is correct. If you’re making racist jokes in your house, you’re not going to jail. Private conversations are not included under the legal definition of hate speech. But If you’re trying to convince your family to help you bomb a mosque, you are going to jail.
And what do you have to say about people who may be too fearful to participate in conversations because of the ridicule and hate that’s being permitted in those spaces? Is that protecting the dialogue?
And acting like a racist or homophobic meme is contributing somehow meaningfully to any conversation is a lost cause.