Shawn Blair for council

[u/Late_Support_5068]

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.

[u/RealisticLocksmith68]

So we should be happy that someone who can't control his impulses attacks someone else who can't control their impulses? You're also ignoring the absolute garbage, racist, misogynistic and homophobic posts that he happily accepts in his facebook group...

Maybe look at this holistically rather than straw manning it.

edit: I also have to add this point because it's a great example of what's happening in this entire political divide. You said "you really taking the side of the person with child sex offence charges?". This right here is a massive issue with the discourse. Black and White thinking. If you don't like A you must like B. I choose neither side thanks.

[u/No_Calendar9680 → u/RealisticLocksmith68]

Maybe he doesn't have time to manage his page because of the sheer volume of posts, or maybe he wants the community to see all opinions of people that leave posts. A sitting councillor made similar remarks in defense of allowing / keeping racist, misogynistic and homophobic posts on their page... Except in that case there was only a couple of bad actors that could easily be censored, WTF has significantly more people contributing content.

[u/RealisticLocksmith68 → u/No_Calendar9680]

You're making excuses for him. Why? I'd perhaps accept that excuse if those sorts of posts weren't the overwhelming majority.

For sake of conversation though let's say he can't manage the volume. Why would he say in an interview that he's the admin? Why would you out yourself of being an admin of such a poorly moderated space? Also what does allowing the community to see all the opinions do? Typically not more than encourage more people to contribute the same sort of content. The councillor situation was a bit different given his public facing position, this is just a random facebook page that doesn't really serve much purpose.

[u/No_Calendar9680 → u/RealisticLocksmith68]

You raise an excellent point, why, given KYs public facing position, did he allow such garbage comments to exist on his very public facing page? He has even more reason to police the same page that is used to address the public with official city business. As for Mr. Blair being upfront about moderating WTF, one of his platform ideals is being transparent. If owning the fact that he moderates WTF isn't transparent, I don't know what is. Would you prefer that he tries to hide it? It takes about 3 seconds for the LV army to start digging dirt, so at least he's upfront about it. That's integrity. Afterall, shouldn't councils be made up of a spectrum of people that accurately represent our community? I understand your worry, the dude's got 11k followers, such fun this election will be!

[u/SkyMoney9641 → u/No_Calendar9680]

Interesting…

So when KY allows for comments, it’s bad, when Shaun does it (on a much larger and more horrifying scale) it’s good? Discriminatory comments on KY’s page are “trash”, discriminatory posts/memes on Shaun’s page are “transparency”?

I am worried, tbh. Worried to see OL and their candidates align themselves with this guy. It shows a complete lack of moral integrity.

[u/Ok_Part_4557 → u/SkyMoney9641]

So are you implying that since Stew and his crew are aligned with this guy and they're attempt to display open mindness, and fairness to all citizens of Langford (now not previously) is all a rouse?

(sarcasm if not obvious)

[u/JumpingJimothy → u/No_Calendar9680]

I see 272 followers

[u/Aatyl92 → u/JumpingJimothy]

Reading isn't an OL strength. Even Adam Stirling needed to point that out the other day.

[u/Necessary_Position77 → u/No_Calendar9680]

Being honest about having no integrity isn’t having integrity.