A local newspaper should not only provide sound journalism for its community, but allow the free expression of an exchange of ides within its community.  A local community is responsible for making informed decisions as to where to spend its money, how to grow its economy and how to govern itself.  This can best happen when the community has a voice and a forum in which to be heard.

But not at the expense of civility.  The cacophony of stupidity that exemplifies the current Gazette commenting system prevents civil discourse.  Those that might weigh in with cogent arguments do not want to subject themselves to the vitriol of the sheer crazies (both left and right) the Gazette has attracted. Ad hominem and straw man attacks abound, as well as racism, sexism and political intolerance.  The current commenting system is an anonymous one – and one which encourages crazy.

Generally speaking, I do think that anonymity on the internet is vital, protecting dissidents from government reprisal, giving a voice to those who may be in danger if their real identity is known and promoting honesty and authenticity in many cases.  Most of the very articulate arguments for anonymity have been presented lately by those seeking to get Google+ to change its real name policies.  Chris Poole, the founder of 4chan, argues most thoughtfully as to why anonymity is to be valued online in this TED talk.

So, how is it that I believe the Gazette’s switch to facebook commenting so that people cannot hide behind anonymity is a good thing, when I do not like facebook and do value anonymity online?

Because context matters. The larger the community (the 200 million using twitter in 2011, for example), the more value provided by anonymity.  In El Paso county, where Colorado Springs and the Gazette’s market is located, there are just over 600,000 residents.  That’s small.  It’s not tiny, but it’s certainly not even 1% of all twitter users.  As county residents, we need to be able to make informed decisions about our community together – be it debates on water rights, development, taxes, roads, schools, parks and all things local.  The local newspaper is one forum – possibly the most visible one in the community – where residents can learn what their neighbors think about local issues.  It is imperative because we are neighbors that the discourse be civil.

We certainly are a polarized community; this polarization is heightened here because of the strong libertarian and right-wing persona of the area.  Liberals tends to be even more left than you might find in other blue areas, simply because to buck the trends here you need to be pretty damn strong in your convictions.  The Tea Party here is strong, the libertarians here are strong, the evangelicals here are strong – having lived here the better part of a decade, I’d argue that our groups are some of the strongest in the nation.

But this polarization devolves into hysterical haterism when people can post anonymous comments to the local newspaper’s website.  It is doubtful that anyone can be persuaded to an opinion when the commenter is simply spewing rhetoric that promotes infantilism.  So, all of the rhetoric found on in anonymous comments on the Gazette serves largely to exist for the sake of antagonism, solidifying the positions you already hold and persuading you that the other side is nuts. Further, the anonymity prevents citizens from knowing who these commenting stakeholders represent.  Someone with a vested interest in an item — it could possibly make or break them financially — is going to argue in their interests; knowing who someone is thus becomes vital when evaluating their comments.  One doesn’t even know if these are actually locals writing comments.

facebook, for all I dislike about it, actually does ‘real names’ well.  I have more confidence in that someone is who they say they are on facebook because of how the site grew (from a very closed system into an open system).  Given that your identity on facebook is tied into your real life social network and that comments made using their commenting system show up in your feed, people are less likely to just spew crazy and more likely to at least attempt an articulate response if they do respond.  You know a person’s interests in an issue based on who they are – a local businessman, a local pastor, a local politician, a local dissident, a college student, a housewife, a hiker, a hunter, your neighbor.

Sure, people spew stupidity regardless of whether their identity is known or not, but knowing that other locals know who you are may just encourage more thoughtfulness when leaving a comment on a news story.  It provides a useful reference for your neighbors when they evaluate your opinion.  It has also been the policy for ages for newspapers to ask for proof of who you are when you write into the Letters to the Editor section.  If facebook commenting can increase the level of civility in the Gazette’s comments, then this community actually might have a better shot of bringing itself together and promoting itself to be the business, recreation and good living area we all – left and right – believe it to be.

I was in the bleachers for Buster Posey’s first at-bat with the SF Giants last year. The kid was smoking hot that night – I fell in love with him and with the Giants (again – been a long time fan). He was hot – hot at bat, cute young thing, Rookie of the Year and, possibly, the catalyst for the Giants winning the World Series last year. Smoking. Hot.

Last night, a Florida player ran into him at home plate (video here) to get the game winning run for the Marlins. But now, with his leg all fucked up, Posey may be out for the season. :’(

A great loss to baseball and for the Giants this season. And, I still have a crush on the guy, so I feel for him.

FWIW, I believe the hit was clean and within the current rules of the game. Baseball isn’t known as being a contact sport, but Ty Cobb and Pete Rose sure made it one back in the day. But it doesn’t need to be that way. Here’s a good post from SB nation with more on that topic.

Oh Posey.

Wow.  It sure is impressive to live in a big city when the World Cup runs.  

I do not mean that some dogmatic morality should inform policy. Ethics, put succinctly, should inform policy how to not screw things over so badly that some group is marginalized to gain profit for another group.

Which is not to say that policy ought to please everyone, just that it fairly consider many disparate interests and not be driven to privilege some at the expense of others solely for any financial profit which may line the pockets of some while downgrading the overall quality of life for many.

So, I’m going to be asking, “Who profits?” a lot more lately as a mental exercise to see what role, if any, ethics still plays in life.

Sent from my iPhone

Danah Boyd’s SXSW talk on social networks and privacy/publicity.

There’s a lot of heady stuff here, particularly in regard to status/privilege and class/race, which surprised me (but shouldn’t have). It’s the most cogent piece I’ve read on the privacy debate, with some very salient points.

One thing that hasn’t changed is the constant background noise.  That’s been the most jarring thing to get used to (other than the sheer volume of people here).   I’ve been waking up at dawn, and I know now why I do that.  It’s the only time when the clamor of the city dies down to a low simmer… when you can hear birds singing and don’t hear any crash and hum at all.  It’s peaceful.

I like the vibrancy of the city, it just wears on me at around 10pm when people are still in the streets being loud.  Overall, I really have enjoyed being back… it’s just that at least once a day I realize how overwhelmingly my life has changed in the past month.

People don’t really acknowledge your existence in a city.  Drivers are rude and self-centered.  If I had come here with no knowledge at all of SF, I’d probably be freaking out right about now.  But that I do know at least how it is laid out is a comfort.

But you can never really go back to what you once knew.  Many areas of the city are not as I once knew them.  I went to China Basin yesterday and was surprised at how built-up SOMA is now.  The entire South of Market area is less seedy and more trendy now.  But vacant — I guess the money dried up. Vacant but not seedy is a weird thing.

The Mission feels so much different than it did in 1985.  Back then, I lived at Shotwell/25th, and daily had run-ins with some homophobic twit.  Now?  Yea, it’s still the barrio and the Nortenos are still here… but they seem more subdued.  In fact, they seem like they are all posing for CD covers or something.  Most of the Mission now feels like a nice family neighborhood with a bunch of trendy hipsters thrown into it. 

The Castro, however, seems a sad parody of itself.  Most of the businesses or bars that I knew are now not there, even though others are still the same as they ever were (Orphan Andy’s, Buffalo Whole Foods, Cliff Hardware, the Castro Theatre). But with rents going at $3000/mo for a 2 bedroom (or higher), I think all the coolness got priced right out of there. I think we were paying less than $1000/mo for our 2 bedroom on 20th/Collingwood when I last lived there, in the 90s.

Noe Valley is a real disappointment.  That vacant building that used to be Real Foods is pathetic, my favorite laundromat is now a bank, and I guess Whole Paycheck is moving into the Bell Market.  The Mission feels more like home to me now — with a more down-to-earth comfortable air about it than Noe Valley now has. 

People are standoffish to strangers.  I very much get that city-vibe here, which I don’t recall from earlier (maybe I was too used to it).  I may as well be in Chicago or New York, except that I know my way around here. It’s a gorgeous city, too, and the views from anywhere still knock me out — although I sense that a lot of people here aren’t really awed by their environment. It just is what it is to them.  I’m starting to think I’d be better off just saying I’m from Colorado and not explaining that I used to live here (for 18 years!), because that merits at least some interest.  My landlord insisted that Gay Pride would be the most awesome thing I’d ever seen, for example… yea, I know, been there & done that.  I understand though, because people do come alive when they talk about how awesome their city is (and it is!).

Although when I say I’m from Colorado Springs, most people react as though I just came out of the Gates of Hell.  Sorry, California, you have no right to judge when y’all just voted down Prop 8 and your state is nearly bankrupt. Colorado has a lot of conservative right-wing evangelical Christians, but the whole of that state seems both more progressive and realistic and, well, friendly than California does right now. And even the most conservative people in the Springs still looked me in the eye on the streets, said ‘Hello’, and helped out if you needed it.  So, yea, I’m really not into this weird liberal judgement of everything not liberal. I’m not also not at all impressed by the “let the voters vote on everything” concept — that didn’t work out too well, huh? — nor am I impressed by how invasive government is here.  I am breaking the law by throwing away my coffee grounds?  I guess all that libertarianism in Colorado rubbed off on me.

Anyway, I’m glad to be back, but it is an adjustment.

]]> http://zyrcster.com/blog/2009/07/random-city-thoughts/feed/ 0 http://zyrcster.com/blog/2009/03/on-change/ http://zyrcster.com/blog/2009/03/on-change/#comments Fri, 13 Mar 2009 08:00:05 +0000 zyrc http://zyrcster.com/blog/2009/03/on-change/ My headspace took an unexpected nosedive this past week.   I suppose what pushed me over the edge was not getting this one job.  I really didn’t even get to complete the interview process, since they cut that off at the knees and hired in-house. 

Which is to be expected.  Meaning, most companies hire in-house and then go outside if they don’t have what they need.  When I hired for a job, we tried to look in-house first.  So, I’m not faulting them, I’m just rattled — for whatever reason — that I didn’t even get the chance to interview with the hiring manager.  They said they’d keep me “on file” but there’s no point in holding my breath.

So, I’m back to wondering what to do.  And, I’m not coming up with any great ideas, but I don’t like where I am and I’m stalled as to how to change it.  I can’t even identify what I’d like to change beyond this nebulous “everything”.  And that taints everything that I am doing.  There’s not one thing I am satisfied with in my life, so, of course, it all “needs to change.”  But you cannot effect real change unless you identify specifics… and I’m just stalled.

Not only that, but my dissatisfaction with my personal stuff is falling over into a huge dissatisfaction with everything around me — friends, work, fun, all of it.

So, why I am writing?  Just to whine?  Maybe.  But today, I thought I’d start somewhere, with a general thought, and see if it led me anywhere specific.  This post hasn’t, but I feel it will be easier to write again next time having started.