I have received diverse feedback about this newspaper and its content over the past few weeks.
One story about the destruction of candidates’ signs, garnered Facebook comments like “Sometimes it’s fun to be childish. So stop being a poopy pants” from Chris Gerritse, and “Well, i think they should cut their losses and move on. Obviously its not NDP country!” from Leigh Fortier.
On the Facebook page of our sister newspaper, the Westlock News, Chad Trigg said, “Keep up the good work. Every orang sign ran over is 10 points. 100 points for the people putting out the signs.” That post — which suggests people should run over NDP supporters — got 71 likes.
On the heels of our story, news organizations around the province reported last week that a Red Deer family’s vehicle was vandalized. The family had an NDP sign on their lawn, and someone had scratched “f--- NDP” and “f--- you” into the side of their van and urinated on it.
The vandalism isn’t just isolated in the NDP camp. There are also reports from news organizations of UCP supporters’ signs and homes being vandalized, in one case a hateful, threatening note being left behind.
On April 5, Alberta RCMP even issued a press release about election-related vandalism, which is being published across the country.
It states police are asking Albertans to respect the democratic process and are advising citizens that these cases are being taken seriously.
“We have received numerous reports of candidate signs being vandalized,” RCMP Constable Mike Hibbs states in the release. “In some cases, these acts of vandalism also include other types of property damages and even hate speech. We are investigating reports of these incidents and will lay charges accordingly.”
Over the past few weeks, I’ve had people come up to me and say the newspaper is “brave.”
Reporting on the truth and giving people space to state their opinions in columns and letters shouldn’t be considered brave. It should be the norm to criticize politicians, their platforms and their views.
Arguably, political vandalism is a form of protest. But when it’s perpetrated as it has been — against people for simply stating their political leanings — it becomes dangerous.
It should be safe for people to speak their views out loud.
The people who are espousing and perpetrating violence or vandalism — or remaining indifferent to it — should be ashamed of themselves. Our politicians should be very vocal about just how horrible this is. It’s trashy, foolish and embarrassing for Alberta.
And it threatens our democracy. It means that open discussion is less open, that information is less free.
I’m publishing the names of the people who said these things on Facebook because I believe that people should be held accountable, especially when their words are trying to silence others.
I believe it’s one of the antidotes. When others say sit down and shut up, call out the aggressors.
With that in mind, I thank those on all sides of the political spectrum for condemning this vandalism and calling out support of it for what it is — unacceptable.
