17 July (Part 2) - Stop Go Ape
After providing
some publicity for the Stop Go Ape campaign group two days ago their leader
sent me a thank you note which was appreciated. Personally I have been a fence sitter
on the issue as it does not affect me at all but in terms of news their Stop campaign
deserves respect - or at least it did.
In preparing the blog I Googled for Go Ape info as one does and for my pains
found myself subsequently bombarded with adverts for Go Ape in news feeds, on YouTube and
then Facebook - which I don’t fully understand - but somehow it happened.
I discovered to my surprise that I am in trouble
on Facebook for using the word gaggle.
First it was villain, now it is gaggle.
I did so in a blog
posted immediately after the Planning meeting that approved the ropeway and finished with
“Back out on Broadway I walked alongside, but not with, a gaggle of protesters
and to say they were annoyed with Bexley Council would be an understatement.
They were plotting revenge and how best they could legally cause trouble”.
No one objected to that blog in June; I stood at the bus stop with a group of understandably annoyed
residents each making their points in an excitable and uncoordinated way. Almost the definition
of the word gaggle. (Dictionary: A noisy, disorganized, or chaotic group of people.)
A
month later (15th July) I reported that the gaggle had upped their game to a
legally constituted campaign group which has formally issued a Letter before
Action to Bexley Council. Surely that is some sort of compliment for a group of
residents who got themselves well organised in a matter of weeks?
But they don’t think so. My web searches threw up the attached comment from a
Facebook Group I had never heard of. I was mystified to read that I had tried to
join it and that is simply not true. I very much dislike Facebook and avoid it if I can.
There is no way I would want to join a Go Ape group.
The fact that I am not in the slightest bit interested in joining a group whose
views I do not support and had not heard of before yesterday is perhaps
not the real issue here. The real issue is why Facebook Administrators so often turn
out to be power-crazed little
Hitlers whose lives are so empty that their only joy is pressing Block buttons. How sad must they be?
Maybe those tempted to support their cause should pause to consider whether it
is led by rational people or petty minded spiteful ones. Stop Go Ape is probably doomed to failure.
Danson Park is not ancient woodland as Lesnes Abbey Park obviously is, complete with its fossil beds.
Note 1: Fortunately the local Facebook group I follow is totally free
of obsessive moderation. Well done What’s New in SE2.
Note 2: This blog provoked a complaint from the Go Ape campaigners which prompts
the following comment.
I began to be associated with Facebook on 20 June 2015 when a friend volunteered
to run a Bonkers account on my behalf. That arrangement didn’t last long and if
I remember correctly the account was deleted and replaced by one in my own name.
I never did properly understand how Facebook worked and my fundamental dislike
of it has been mentioned here several times. I still do not know what being a Friend entails.
Basically I am an observer and not a participant. There was a flurry of activity
in 2018 when I bought an electric car which at the time was something of a
novelty and I joined four Private car groups in the hope of keeping up with
developments. I am still registered with them but no one discusses eight year
old EVs so they are effectively dormant for me.
Since 2018 I have joined only two Private Groups, Erith North Heath News and
Belvedere Kent Community. I don’t think I have ever contributed to them, however
Stop Go Ape claims I tried to join them. If I had it would have been a big event
for me and I would be waiting for their response. But strange things happen on
Facebook. I have recently been subscribed to British Bird Lovers and have no
idea how, and I am being bombarded by Superloop bus posts.
I have never knowingly accepted a Friend request but nevertheless have a few
and I still have no idea what the effect might be. Presumably an unintended
finger swipe on a phone screen and the deed is done.
But all that is to miss the point. Whether or not I attempted to join Stop Go
Ape is immaterial. My point was the small mindedness of Administrators who are
happy to boast that they will censor discussion by anyone to whom they have
taken a dislike. In my own case because of the correct use of the word gaggle.
And they are so pleased with themselves that they add a laughing emoji. If one
is going to subsequently object to comment the golden rule is don’t post anything indefensible.
If the gaggle that rapidly transformed into an organised campaign group comes up
with any significant condemnation of Bexley Council’s decision to allow further
commercialisation of Danson Park it will be given due prominence here and I hope
that they do. At present it is all rumour but once things become clearer the
facts will be reported here. There will be no censorship on Bonkers. I leave
that sort of thing to a small number of Facebook Administrators, including one
of those early EV Groups from 2018! It appears to be a common trait.