The Inherit Problem of Propaganda

THE INHERENT PROBLEM OF PROPAGANDA - SEEMS INNOCENT ENOUGH AT THE START

IT ENDS UP BEING RIDICULOUS

     I FIND VERY LITTLE WRONG WITH OUR TOWN. TO SOME CITIZENS AND POLITICIANS, I'M WHAT'S WRONG. I AM A PAIN IN THE ASS WHEN I START DISPELLING FICTION FROM FACT. THE REAL PROBLEM OF "FUDGING" THE TRUTH, IS THAT INEVITABLY, IT CATCHES UP TO THE SPIN-MASTERS….WHO ALL OF A SUDDEN DON'T HAVE AN ADEQUATE RESPONSE TO WHAT JUST WENT HORRIBLY WRONG. GRAVENHURST IS BEING ADVERSELY AFFECTED BY PROPAGANDA……OR OTHERWISE, CONVENIENT MISTRUTHS THAT SEEM GOOD AT THE TIME. I AM NOT A TWITTER USER, BUT HONESTLY, YOU CAN FIND SOME WICKEDLY NASTY OVERVIEWS OF OUR TOWN BEING PUBLISHED FAIRLY REGULARLY. A LOT OF IT IS JUST CRAZY-STUFF, BUT OCCASIONALLY, THERE'S A ONE LINER THAT REALLY HITS HOME. I WONDER IF LOCAL POLITICIANS SPEND A FEW MOMENTS A DAY, REVIEWING WHAT HAS BEEN WRITTEN ABOUT THE TOWN THEY GOVERN. THEY SHOULD. GOOD COMMENTS AND ADVERSE. IT'S ALL THE PREVAILING REALITIES WE NEED TO DEAL WITH….AND REACT TO WHEN NECESSARY TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT. I'M DISGUSTED BY SOME COMMENTS, HUMORED AND ENLIGHTENED BY OTHERS. ESPECIALLY FROM THOSE VISITING OUR COMMUNITY AND WRITING THEIR OPINIONS FOR THE WORLD TO SEE.

     BUT THE MOST DAMNING PROPAGANDA, HOMESPUN,  AND SELF-SERVING, IS ADVERSELY AFFECTING THIS TOWN, IN SUBTLE BUT DISTURBING WAYS. IT'S EATING OUR HEART OUT FROM THE INSIDE. WHEN LOCAL COUNCILLORS READ THIS BLOG…..BECAUSE I KNOW A FEW WHO DO, THEY PROBABLY FIND IT NASTY OF ME, TO POKE HOLES IN THE THIN WEAVE OF STORY-SPIN THEY HAPPEN TO BELIEVE. THOSE WHO ARE PUMPING OUT SELF-SERVING EDITORIAL COPY, FOR ALL THE MEDIA WILLING TO KEEP LOCAL ADVERTISERS HAPPY, KNOW FULL WELL THAT THEY CAN'T BACK UP THEIR CLAIMS, IN THE FORENSIC SENSE, BUT ARE PRETTY SURE THEY WON'T GET CAUGHT EITHER. FIRMLY BELIEVING THAT OBJECTORS WILL JUST KEEP IT TO THEMSELVES. IT'S A CRAPPY ATTITUDE, BECAUSE WHEN YOU START WINNING WITH THESE MISTRUTHS, THE BOLDER THE STORY-SPINNERS GET……AND PRETTY SOON YOU ARE PAINTING A PICTURE OF A TOWN THAT IS NOT ONLY ABSTRACT, BUT RIDICULOUS. IF ON THE OTHER HAND, THE MEDIA WAS INTERESTED IN PURSUING THESE EMBELLISHMENTS FOR WHAT THEY ARE, THE PUBLIC CONSUMING THE MATERIAL MIGHT AT LEAST HAVE REASON TO VIEW THE PROPAGANDA WITH A  NEWFOUND SHRED OF CRITICAL INSIGHT.

     GRAVENHURST DOES HAVE A LOT OF NEAT STUFF GOING ON, AND I THINK IT HAS A BRIGHT FUTURE BEYOND WHAT ANY SPIN-MASTER MIGHT WIND INTO A PRESS RELEASE FOR PUBLIC CONSUMPTION. BUT THE FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY THAT THESE RELENTLESS SCRIBES INFUSE, LOCALLY, GIVES ONE THE OPINION THAT WE ARE IN THE BEST SITUATION IN HISTORY. OR THAT WE ARE IN THE ADVANCED STAGES OF RECOVERY, FOR THOSE WHO BELIEVE THE OTHER WING OF PROPAGANDA, THAT WE'VE BEEN PLUMMETING FOR THE PAST DECADE…..IN THE BUSINESS SENSE. THE PROBLEM WITH THIS KIND OF NON-CRITICALLY BASED OVERVIEW, IS THAT THEY BUILD-UP BELIEVERS…..WHO ACTUALLY THINK THESE HATCHED PUBLICITY STUNTS ARE AS RELIABLE AS FRONT PAGE NEWS.

     THERE ARE PEOPLE IN OUR COMMUNITY, WHO THINK THAT THIS KIND OF POSITIVE NEWS IS WHAT WE NEED TO BUILD ENTHUSIASM FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS. BUT IT'S JUST NOT THE CASE. THOSE WHO WANT TO INVEST BIG MONEY IN OUR COMMUNITY, DON'T READ THE "GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL" CRAP, BECAUSE OF WHAT IT IS AFTER ALL……JUST POSITIVE SPIN IN A SELF-SERVING ORGY OF WILD PITCHES TO WHOEVER HAPPENS TO BE IN THE MARKET FOR CASUAL READING.

     THE PROBLEMS THAT EXIST IN GRAVENHURST ARE COMMON TO MANY SMALL RURAL TOWNS ACROSS THIS COUNTRY. WE HAVE CITY-NEEDS, URBAN DILEMMAS, SOCIAL SERVICES INEQUALITIES, MENTAL HEALTH INEFFICIENCIES, AND IN SOME CASES, MEDICAL DISADVANTAGES, THAT GET WADDED UP IN THIS BID TO MAKE EVERYTHING SEEM PEACHY……BECAUSE IT SATISFIES THE FEW, WHO WANT THE PUBLIC TO GET BEHIND WHATEVER PROJECT IS BEING PITCHED AT THAT PARTICULAR TIME. IT DOESN'T FIX PROBLEMS. THE WORDS, IF YOU WILL, JUST SLAP YOU ON THE BACK, SUGGESTING THIS IS THE TIME OF OUR LIVES, AND NOTHING AT ALL COULD EVER RAIN ON OUR PARADE. IT'S AS IF THEY BELIEVE, WHOLE-HEARTEDLY, THEY CAN RE-CONSTITUTE THE COLOR OF A RED CRAYON, TO BY DECRY, BE BLUE INSTEAD…..AND IT BE THE LAW OF THE LAND.

     IT IS MY LONGSTANDING ARGUMENT WITH GRAVENHURST COUNCIL. THERE'S THE STORY THE MEDIA GETS, AS A STANDARD, AND THEN THERE'S THE STORY THE PRESS CAN DIG UP, RESPONSIBLY AND THANKFULLY, ABOUT OUR APPALLING DEBT-LOAD AS A MUNICIPALITY. I CONGRATULATE OUR REGIONAL PUBLICATION, "WHAT'S-UP" FOR THEIR OUTSTANDING ARTICLE ON THE DEBT-LOAD OF THE TOWNS AND TOWNSHIPS IN THE DISTRICT OF MUSKOKA. THIS IS JOURNALISM. THIS IS WHAT WE NEED MORE OF IN MUSKOKA. NOW APPLY THIS KIND OF INSIGHT, WHICH ALL CONSTITUENTS BENEFIT FROM, AGAINST THOSE WHO WRITE WITH CHARACTER FLAVOR, "THAT WHAT IS BAD……IS LESS BAD," AS A RESULT OF A FEW ADJECTIVES AND POSITIVE SPIN. SOME TIMES, NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU WISH FOR A RETURN TO KANSAS, FROM OZ, IT ISN'T GOING TO HAPPEN WITHOUT A COMPLICATED SOLUTION…….NOT JUST CLICKING ONES HEALS AND WISHING TO GO HOME.

     AS NEW BUSINESSES ARE OPENING IN GRAVENHURST, WHICH IS WONDERFUL, THERE ARE OTHERS THAT ARE CLOSING. THERE ARE MANY COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS FOR SALE, AND SOME HAVE SOLD. BUT LARGELY IT'S A TRANSITIONAL TIME IN THE URBAN CHRONICLE. THERE ARE MANY PROFOUND CHANGES YET TO COME. READING SOME HAPPY-TIME PRESS MATERIAL, YOU'D SWEAR TO GOD WE ARE ALREADY IN OZ…….BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS RUNNING SO HUNKY-DORY. IT'S JUST MORE SPIN. SURPRISINGLY TO SOME HARD-ASS SPIN-MASTERS, YOU CAN ACTUALLY, AND RESPONSIBLY, WRITE A POSITIVE STORY BECAUSE IT IS WARRANTED, WITHOUT AVOIDING THE TRUTHS THAT RUN ALONGSIDE. BY MAKING COMPARISONS AND INFUSING OBSERVATIONAL REALITIES, IT ISN'T HARD TO BE UPBEAT AND RESPONSIBLE WITH WHAT IS BEING RELAYED TO THE PUBLIC. BUT WHAT HAPPENS, IS THAT THERE BECOMES A WAD-UP OF SO MANY HALF-TRUTHS, THAT HONESTLY, MANY READERS KNOW THE TRUTH IS BEING CONCEALED FOR OUR OWN GOOD. IT MIGHT BE FOR THEIR GOOD, BUT NOT FOR OURS.

     I HAD A CHAT WITH A VETERAN MUSKOKA POLITICIAN THIS WEEK, AND I COULDN'T RESIST ASKING HIM ABOUT THE COMBINED MUSKOKA DEBT-LOAD, AND HOW IT HAS CHANGED FROM THE PAST. HE JUST NODDED AND AGREED THAT IT WAS QUITE A PROBLEM…….AND A DEPT RESPONSIBILITY FORMER COUNCILS WOULDN'T HAVE EVEN CONSIDERED TAKING ON. HE WONDERED ALOUD, AS I PONDER IN WRITING, WHAT IS TOO MUCH DEBT FOR OUR OWN GOOD? WHEN DO WE HIT THE THRESHOLD OF IRRESPONSIBILITY, AND BEGIN CAUSING OURSELVES SERIOUS LONG TERM INJURY? THERE ARE OFFICIALS OF HIGH STANDING WHO DON'T SEE ANY PROBLEM WITH THE CURRENT DEBT, AS IF IT COULD BE ERASED IN A MATTER OF SEVERAL YEARS. THEY DON'T SEEM TO UNDERSTAND THAT INTEREST IS ROCKING OUR BOAT, AND WE'RE TAKING ON WATER. WE'VE GOT MANY BUDGET ISSUES YET TO FACE, AND IT'S NOT LIKE THE TOWN CAN SIMPLY STOP PERFORMING ITS RESPONSIBILITIES, SHUTTING THE COFFERS, UNTIL THE TAX INTAKE COVERS THE OUTSTANDING BALANCE. WHAT WE SEEM TO PREFER, IN THIS TOWN, IS TO MINIMIZE ALL PROBLEMS DOWN TO WHAT IS PERCEIVED TO BE, A MANAGEABLE PROPORTION. AND WITH SO MANY OTHER GROUPS OPTING FOR THE SAME KIND OF WHITEWASH, BY GOLLY, THIS PARADISE JUST GETS BETTER AND BETTER ALL THE TIME.

     I LIKE LIVING AND WORKING IN GRAVENHURST. BUT THERE IS A TIME OF RECKONING SOON TO ARRIVE, WHEN THE LEADERSHIP WILL NOT BE ABLE TO FOB-OFF THE TAXPAYERS WITH POSITIVE SPIN. FOR EXAMPLE, A FEW OF US VOYEURS, WANT TO KNOW IN SEPTEMBER, WHAT THE FINANCIAL PICTURE WAS OF THE OPERA HOUSE THEATRE PROJECT. WE WANT TO KNOW IF WE GOT GOOD VALUE FOR OUR TAX INVESTMENT IN THIS BOLD SUMMER VENTURE. IF THEY MAKE A PROFIT, WE WANT TO KNOW ABOUT IT. IF THE TOWN LOSES MONEY, BECAUSE OF IT, WE WANT TO KNOW. SO I WILL BE REMINDING THE TOWN IN SEPTEMBER ABOUT THIS QUESTION OF PROFITABILITY. AND I'M REASONABLY SURE, THEY WILL HAVE NO PROBLEM AT ALL, AVOIDING THE ISSUE.

     GRAVENHURST IS NOT BEING WELL SERVED BY SPIN-MASTERS, WHEREVER THEY COME FROM, AND FOR WHAT EVER REASON THEY DO WHAT THEY DO. WE NEED FUTURE MUNICIPAL COUNCILLORS WHO HAVE THE SAME INTEREST IN CRITICAL OVERVIEWS AS MANY OF US……WHO WILL BE GETTING THEIR TAX BILL, AND MOANING, IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS.

     THANK YOU FOR JOINING ME FOR TODAY'S BLOG.