Regarding the "come talk to us HERE" portion of the meeting: this whole train of thought is actually, genuinely funny when you think about it in the context of what has happened across both the digital and meatspaces in Evanston over the past two years.
We all remember the virtuous and good LadyDogWhistleDown (or whatever it was). Revolut…
Regarding the "come talk to us HERE" portion of the meeting: this whole train of thought is actually, genuinely funny when you think about it in the context of what has happened across both the digital and meatspaces in Evanston over the past two years.
We all remember the virtuous and good LadyDogWhistleDown (or whatever it was). Revolutionary era cosplay and completely 'anonymous' (🙄). Anonymity was Good and Cool at that point.
And who can forget the 'anonymous' Equity and Empowerment Commission ceasefire fiasco? Lots and lots and lots of people showed up in person and put their names and faces out there to discuss that. And in that scenario, there were some ACTUAL Nazis watching to see who showed up, and not just name-callers on facebook.
That draft resolution popped up out of nowhere and the authors were anonymous, then, too. But again, maybe that was an overreaction as that whole thing was just "white people shit" ... yet another comment that was made anonymously.
I never thought I'd see a school board member drop a "come at me, bro" during a meeting.
As others have said -- at this point, what is even the point? People have commented here, commented on Facebook under their real names, written letters and articles in the Roundtable, and people HAVE shown up in person to call out the board. Not everyone has the *privilege* of showing up to non-publicized, last-minute school board meetings. People have jobs and families that come first.
No matter which avenue people choose to express themselves, it is never the right avenue for this board. It must be nice to ignore input when you can dismiss the input due to the medium it is delivered in.
The bona-fide Nazi that showed up during all of this really changed how I think about the way we talk to each other and how we should be more fearless in our disagreement. Because that guy showed we all agree on much much more than we think.
I agree. That was truly a wild moment. Those people flew from Walnut Creek, CA to Evanston specifically to yell slurs.
Unfortunately I don't know what to do or say; if anyone and everyone that has a certain type of opinion is called a Nazi (in various forms - "take off the hood", "KKK", "whyte supremecists"), then how can we, as a community, actually have any sort of fact-based discourse? Seriously??
I feel like the discourse has been "on the one hand, there are people that want to build Foster School; on the other hand, there are Nazis." How does a community forge a path forward if that is the starting point for any discussion? As you have said, Tom, you think moving forward with the school is a good idea (I believe that's where you stand based on what I have read). That is an OK and acceptable point of view. It is informed by facts and figures - not emotion. Other people think that the school should not be built, due to the reasons discussed (finances, enrollment). These are also fact-based points of view. And, unfortunately, there is no splitting the baby here: the school either gets built, or it doesn't.
But if we just run around calling each other Nazis and writing anonymous slanderous newsletters, then what chance do we even have of figuring out a path forward?
Regarding the "come talk to us HERE" portion of the meeting: this whole train of thought is actually, genuinely funny when you think about it in the context of what has happened across both the digital and meatspaces in Evanston over the past two years.
We all remember the virtuous and good LadyDogWhistleDown (or whatever it was). Revolutionary era cosplay and completely 'anonymous' (🙄). Anonymity was Good and Cool at that point.
And who can forget the 'anonymous' Equity and Empowerment Commission ceasefire fiasco? Lots and lots and lots of people showed up in person and put their names and faces out there to discuss that. And in that scenario, there were some ACTUAL Nazis watching to see who showed up, and not just name-callers on facebook.
That draft resolution popped up out of nowhere and the authors were anonymous, then, too. But again, maybe that was an overreaction as that whole thing was just "white people shit" ... yet another comment that was made anonymously.
I never thought I'd see a school board member drop a "come at me, bro" during a meeting.
As others have said -- at this point, what is even the point? People have commented here, commented on Facebook under their real names, written letters and articles in the Roundtable, and people HAVE shown up in person to call out the board. Not everyone has the *privilege* of showing up to non-publicized, last-minute school board meetings. People have jobs and families that come first.
No matter which avenue people choose to express themselves, it is never the right avenue for this board. It must be nice to ignore input when you can dismiss the input due to the medium it is delivered in.
The bona-fide Nazi that showed up during all of this really changed how I think about the way we talk to each other and how we should be more fearless in our disagreement. Because that guy showed we all agree on much much more than we think.
I agree. That was truly a wild moment. Those people flew from Walnut Creek, CA to Evanston specifically to yell slurs.
Unfortunately I don't know what to do or say; if anyone and everyone that has a certain type of opinion is called a Nazi (in various forms - "take off the hood", "KKK", "whyte supremecists"), then how can we, as a community, actually have any sort of fact-based discourse? Seriously??
I feel like the discourse has been "on the one hand, there are people that want to build Foster School; on the other hand, there are Nazis." How does a community forge a path forward if that is the starting point for any discussion? As you have said, Tom, you think moving forward with the school is a good idea (I believe that's where you stand based on what I have read). That is an OK and acceptable point of view. It is informed by facts and figures - not emotion. Other people think that the school should not be built, due to the reasons discussed (finances, enrollment). These are also fact-based points of view. And, unfortunately, there is no splitting the baby here: the school either gets built, or it doesn't.
But if we just run around calling each other Nazis and writing anonymous slanderous newsletters, then what chance do we even have of figuring out a path forward?
That was well articulated... For a Nazi.
I kid, I kid.