phishtaper Posted October 6, 2010 Report Share Posted October 6, 2010 so in guelph ...the mayoral race seems to be down to two: the incumbent pro-environment, socially progressive Farbridge who many think has not lived up to her promises and has made several really stupid decisions ... and a former, right of center, city councilor, Birtwistle, who is pro-development and less concerned with the environment. the hatchets have come out and both sides are blaming each other for past fiscal and planning mistakes, sneaky politics, spreading misinformation, etc. ... you know, standard stuff.perhaps the most interesting aspect of it all is that the campaign manager (a former city councilor) of the incumbent mayor has been caught red-handed creating multiple identities on the local Guelph Mercury politics blog and spreading misinformation about her opponent. the mayor stands behind her campaign manager, claiming she knew nothing about it. many city council candidates criticized the actions of the mayor's campaign manager as "fraudulent" and "sneaky", with some then quickly outed as having done exactly the same thing. i find this fascinating. so, the question: is it OK to create fake internet persona and comment on local politics during a campaign? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdy Posted October 10, 2010 Report Share Posted October 10, 2010 hell yes. welcome to politics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaggyBalls Posted October 10, 2010 Report Share Posted October 10, 2010 Aah - what does 'OK' mean?Accepted practice?Publically Ethically acceptable?I think that I've created a fake online personal years ago and I comment on local politics but I'm not fabricating one for the express purpose of swaying public opinion about an incumbant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdy Posted October 11, 2010 Report Share Posted October 11, 2010 I've done it, even for this recent election. It's the technological age's equivalent of lawn-sign wars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdy Posted October 17, 2010 Report Share Posted October 17, 2010 Chatham-Kent Mayoral Candidates: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaggyBalls Posted October 17, 2010 Report Share Posted October 17, 2010 I've done it, even for this recent election. It's the technological age's equivalent of lawn-sign wars.You're one of THOSE people?Thanks for watering down democracy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdy Posted October 17, 2010 Report Share Posted October 17, 2010 (edited) Don't be naive YT, democracy was watered down long, long ago. Actually, i'm highly suspicious that democracy may not even exist. And yes, i'm one of 'THOSE' people and for the record, there's nothing undemocratic about changing my name for internet purposes. My real name isn't Birdy. Edited October 17, 2010 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phishtaper Posted October 17, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2010 as one of those people, have you intentionally spread lies, birdy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdy Posted October 17, 2010 Report Share Posted October 17, 2010 Oh god no. I've intentionally spread the truth - the incumbent is a piece of work and a half. He drops 'don't's when it should be 'does not', or 'youze guys' this and it 'ain't' that. I sit on the board of a local theatre which JUST opened, and he was the bain of our existence for the last few years, continually bashing everyone and everything involved in it, saying that we should abandon the project after 10 years of restoration and 8 million dollars of federal and provincial grants. Abandon it? Why? So we can guarantee CK never gets another cent of federal and provincial spending? Then, when we finally had our press conference to announce it's 'Opening', dufus incumbent is there to cut the ribbon, smile for the cameras and commit his full support. Very frustrating for the amount of hard work, time and money that people have put into the project, and now the bonehead is riding the coattails as if this was something he helped to make happen. Election time bullshit. Speaking of, a multi-million dollar condo/boutique hotel was recently announced for downtown Chatham, and during the press conference the developer clearly stated that the entire project depended on Hope's re-election and he's the real reason this guy is about to inject millions of dollars into the project - weeks before the election this comes out. What ensues is a town in uproar, accusing the incumbent of unfair politics and the developer of bullying the democratic process, yadda yadda yadda... and then, just a few days ago, the news sources print a retraction from the developer - stating he 'clearly didn't think' and of course, this project is not dependant on Mayor Hope's re-election. Riiiiiiiiight. Suddenly dufus' campaign took a hit and out comes this.Anyway - sorry for the rant! I'm a bit hardcore when it comes to municipal politics and the fact that we have an idiot at the helm, who unfortunately used to be president of the CAW down here means we have to campaign extra hard this time around to get rid of him.Hence, being one of 'those' people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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