Why Can’t You Just Shut the F***K Up?

This week was burger week in Halifax, an annual fundraising event that is widely reported and followed by citizens.
I only got out once, to the Celtic Corner where the proceeds of Burger Week went to support Margaret’s House.
Margaret’s House is named in memory of Margaret Savage, who was a great supporter of the F.O.O.D. program as was her husband John Savage.
Mayor Mike Savage and his brothers and sisters continue to support Margaret’s House.

Another person who had a burger this week was Premier Stephen McNeil. I am sure few of the other participants who posted #HalifaxBurgerWeek posts on Twitter were subjected to the following petty, mean and self-promoting comments. The Premier also posted an item promoting the Cancer Societies daffodil campaign and received the same sort of comments.

I have participated in the political life of Nova Scotia for a long time and I have written many posts that criticize the policy proposals of political parties. I do not, however, make a practice of attacking people personally. I did post a tweet to Gary Burrill noting his constant stream of negativism, but it was not on a post promoting a charity.

These types of things get much worse than those I have highlighted here. They include comments on character, appearance, sexual orientation and intelligence. They include harsh and abusive language, threats and become a constant stream of disheartening noise.

Why?

Are any of these good citizens prepared to put their time and energy into anything more than tweeting? Will they put their name forward to serve the province, city, neighborhood? Will they subject themselves and their families to the abuse they dish out?

This week the Herald ran an opinion piece from Bruce Lantz on this topic, an interesting read.

I ask again why? If you don’t want to get involved your facebook posts and twitter rants are a waste of time. I have the greatest respect for political opponents who work and advocate for their position, and maybe some of the twitter posters do as well.

So maybe we can agree that anyone who is promoting a good cause can just get a pass on that? Can we agree on that? Probably not, and we will reap what we sow.

#nspoli #HalifaxBurgerWeek