Running for a local city council seat seems like a fairly innocuous way to help serve one’s city. In a small town like ours, we take pride in how our local government is run. We love our city, we want to see it thrive and our fellow citizens thrive as well, one would think anyway.
There is a burgeoning vocal internet presence of vicious trolls who make it their business to intimidate and defame on local social media group chats. The most recent topics of discussion being the city council race. Many citizens are concerned about two of the candidates evading quite important inquiries that put their true visions for our city in question.
If you have a “conservative” opinion on these local chats (Facebook being the main social media hub) then you have more than likely been a victim of the trolls who hide behind fake accounts. You may have even reported them, only to get back a message that their defamatory statement didn’t go against Facebook’s code of ethics, or whatever their code is, anyway.
The fact is, I have a pretty good idea of who the trolls are. You would be quite surprised at their true identity, a local lawyer perhaps: a bastion of the community by day, dirty troll by night.
They use their legal prowess to research those who dare espouse conservative beliefs, publicly posting one’s past legal issues, or even family members legal issues. It doesn’t even have to be correct. They will post it anyway. This person doesn’t care about your privacy. If you post a comment that isn’t in line with what they think is correct, they will type where you live and what car you drive.
It is time we publicly refute the vicious bullies who hide behind fake accounts, carefully planning their fake profile so as to follow Facebook’s “rules.” You won’t intimidate us from telling the truth.
If a candidate doesn’t answer simple questions about their connections, campaign donations, and true motives WE WON’T VOTE for them. No keyboard bully hiding behind a fake profile will compensate for a bad candidate.
Robyn Cobb
Peachtree City, Ga.
Thankful there is The Citizen for all voices because the social
media platforms whose admins are far left are silencing and blocking opinions they don’t agree with. They’re learning from Twitter and Facebook and bringing this “game” to a local level.
Thank you Mr. Beverly, Steve Brown, Robyn and many others for speaking TRUTH! I see that it continues to have many unhinged.
Most social media is bunk per Henry Ford ….I haven’t been on Facebook for years…not interested in what you had for lunch…your 4-year-olds T-ball or your dopey opinions…I get my kicks here and that’s enough.
Y’all vote for Steve Brown’s lackey if you want to.. I don’t understand it.
Who is that? (This is a serious question.)
Robin – good article, and one reason I stay away from Facebook. I enjoy a well-reasoned debate, but there are many on Facebook who apparently were mercy-promoted through school and never learned the way to present an argument with facts and logic. Intimidation designed to silence someone is their only tool.
Stranger Than Fiction is one of several on The Citizen who are one-note pianos, fact-free zones and who almost always brings some unwarranted nastiness.
STF – obviously there are trolls on all sides of the political spectrum, and in Robin’s case, the harassment is coming from someone(s) who doesn’t like her conservative views. It should not be excused, and it should stop now.
That’s something that all but the most rabid idealogue (of any viewpoint) should support. Will you join us in condemning these bullying tactics?
Hi Penny, I hope you are doing well.
I will support you 100% in condemning bullying behavior from both sides of the political spectrum. One side is no better than the other regardless of one’s own political ideology.
Now will you join me in condemning the worst national offender? The orange guy doesn’t get a pass just because he has his own platform.
Trump isn’t hiding behind fake Facebook accounts and releasing personal information about someone to harass and intimidate them due to their beliefs. Robin’s situation has nothing to do with Trump, except in your mind.
I don’t like the bloviating coming out of DC, from whomever it originates. I look for candidates with reasoned policies that will make our country (or our community) stronger. We were clearly better off as a nation before Biden.
Like the Italians and Germans in the 1930s, many will choose authoritarian rule over democracy and then wonder how they lost all of their freedoms. It is painful to watch our democratic republic die. Maybe some will read history before it is too late!
Like replace “orange guy” with Jews, and “watch democratic republic die” with “Treaty of Versailles and wonder why Goebbels couldn’t shut up about it?
Baseless? I’m not sure you are in or have seen the aforementioned chats. It is quite “deplorable.” In many cases the bully uses sexual harassment and scare tactics. I’m not sure if Robyn is a MAGA supporter, but she didn’t say so in the post. Just that conservatives are targeted. Conservatives have a spectrum, as I’m sure you know. I think her post has meant to convey the need for civil discourse, as opposed to nasty vitriol.
Good article Robin. Apparently asking for civility in political discourse and for candidates to clearly state their positions on issues important to our citizens is asking too much of some.
Another MAGA innocent being victimized by the mean liberals, because trolls only come from one end of the political spectrum. And yet odds are astronomically high that Ms. Cobb will support the portly orange bully without the slightest notion of this inconsistency.
You can’t make this stuff up. Truth is stranger than fiction!
What’s this letter got to do with Trump? Nothing…..pretty pathetic when you can’t address the issue head-on so you have to go attack something else….it just makes you look weak.
Hi Wing – Ms. Cobb makes baseless claims that conservatives are being unilaterally attacked. This is preposterous at both the local and national level. The orange man is the leading provocateur of bullying attacks, and it all flows downhill from this source.
The fact that none of the MAGAites will call out the primary source of bullying, but rather somehow present themselves as poor victims is beyond comprehension. Thus, my post.
Will any of you ever step up and identify the elephant in the middle of the room instead of whining about being victims?
Again, truth is stranger than fiction.
Trump has nothing to do with this letter to the editor. Biggest non sequitur I’ve ever seen. Tying it in to all conservatives has got to be thebiggest broadest
Paint brush in PTC history. Just only shows your biased ignorance. Just look at the Facebook group Life in the peachtree bubble where you won’t get blocked for all of the ad hominem attacks Robyn is talking about.
Orange god, gnats, Fox News, bowls of stew, Pharisees, missives, carpenter – come on Wing, keep up.
Stranger Than Fiction – I’m so sorry that after almost 3 years that Trump lives rent free in your head and you suffer from TDS. Please seek professional help so you can overcome your TDS. It’s a mental illness that is covered under your mental health benefits from your health insurance carrier.
HI Deadeye – I hope you are doing well.
Three years ago, I thought the 45th president would be removed from office after he attempted a coup d’etat and then prevented from ever threatening our republic again, but short-sighted senators failed to act. I had hoped that Federal and state prosecutors would have successfully placed him behind bars, but they have dragged their feet.
Now, three years after attempting to overthrow the U.S. government, many voters that prefer authoritarianism over democracy seem to be in favor of returning him to power. It is unbelievable, but truth is stranger than fiction.
The orange authoritarian is not just an existential threat to our republic, but a demonstrated literal threat to the rule of law. Therefore, my fear for you, me, and all other Americans is still quite viable. I will be so pleased when justice is finally served, and he cannot threaten us. Until then, you should join me in being very concerned.
You are obviously sick with hatred and in need of professional help.