Politics & Government

I Want My Three-Legged Stool Back

State Rep. Jesse White blasts 'Internet tough guys'—says that anonymous online commenting undermines informed public debate.

Informed public debate is a three-legged stool; in order to stay level, you need all three legs to be stable, equal and somewhat independent of one another. In this equation, the three legs consist of the elected officials, the public and the media— otherwise known as the people who make laws, the people who report on the laws and the people affected by those laws.

Public opinion of government at all levels, regardless of party affiliation, is disgustingly low. We’ve hit a point in our history where the American system of self-governance itself, held up as a model for the rest of the world for centuries, is suddenly cause for apology.

To put it in simpler terms, it has never been cooler to hate government in America. One of the most sure-fire ways to get elected these days is to show open disdain for the position you are running for, which amazingly translates into some sort of bizarre reverse street credibility.

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While I am hardly going to defend the personal and professional actions of everyone elected to office, I would suggest there is a heightened level of accountability and transparency for today’s elected officials. In a world where anyone can snap a cell phone photo and send it around the world in seconds, questionable behavior becomes more difficult to hide.

But what about the other two legs of the stool? In order for the system to work, there is an obligation for elected officials, the media and the public to conduct themselves in a way designed to further honest and legitimate public debate. But at the same time the Internet has made politicians more accountable in many ways, some in the media and the public have gone in the opposite direction.

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The result is a debate geared for enraging the public rather than engaging them, which serves no positive purpose whatsoever.

I’m referring to the “Internet tough guys”—people who sit behind a computer and spew outrageous amounts of misinformation, innuendo and outright hatred onto the Internet. These are people who would never have the guts to say such nonsense at a public meeting, but flourish in a coward’s paradise provided by an Internet connection in an otherwise empty room.

I see it on a more basic level all the time. A constituent will call my office and berate a member of my staff about an issue, yelling and screaming and swearing for no good reason. But when I get on the phone, the attitude tends to change very quickly, almost always in a more cooperative direction. It wasn’t that I did anything special, it’s that many people have no problem telling an anonymous staffer to go get bent but do not want the accountability of saying it to someone they actually know.

I do believe these people represent only a vocal minority. Some people are just hard-wired to complain no matter what; as we say on the Internet, “haters gonna hate."

The real problem is when the media provides a breeding ground for such irrational negativity, and there is no place where this is more prevalent than the online comment sections of news sites. For example, the newspaper of record in Washington County allows anonymous comments to be posted on its website. It is a horrible practice that needs to stop.

Despite “terms of service” demanding discussions be civil, on topic and free of personal attacks, the comments are often anything but. I regularly observe hateful, spiteful, untrue personal attacks that have nothing whatsoever to do with the topic. People tell me their comments never make it online, even though they are non-offensive and on topic. Allowing anonymous, non-factual and malicious comments to be posted is irresponsible, lacking in journalistic integrity and indefensible for any organization claiming to be a legitimate news source in the twenty-first century.

You can’t have it both ways. You cannot leave the door open and fill your house with cheese and then act shocked when you get infested with rats. Many good people refuse to run for office because they do not want to expose their families to such hateful attacks by anonymous cowards whose care nothing for informed debate and factual accuracy, opting instead for asinine accusations and misinformation which is somehow supposed to be patriotic because they end by saying they "want their country back."

Well guess what? I want my three-legged stool back.


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