Media manipulation in North Smithfield is not appreciated

• It won’t be long now. In the next week or so you’ll be seeing photos and clues to the identity of King Jace XXII, The Mysterious Monarch of the Woonsocket Mardi Gras. The man who has agreed to play the part of King Jace XXII has been quietly out there among you, keeping our little secret for a number of weeks now. According to tradition and the rules of our contest, he is a man from the local community who, if you mentioned him in a crowd, most people would know who he was, so it is safe to say he is wellknown. When the Ten Clues to his true identity, accompanied by photos in his Royal Robes, are released here in The Call and on local radio soon, the guessing will begin and will end when the King is unmasked in public at the Mardi Gras Ball on Saturday evening, Feb. 6. For those who read this column faithfully, I have a little teaser for you. This year, the man playing King Jace is “special” in a certain way, separating him, in this one way, from many of his predecessors.

• I have a few words to say today about classic good citizenship. I’ve recently been exposed to what I point to as an example of destructive activism. Before I get too far into this thought, I do understand the frustration people can feel when you disagree with your elected officials on matters which you feel affect your life and maybe your happiness, too. But there is an accepted way of dealing with this frustration.

The matter was brought to my attention a little more than a week ago when the radio station began receiving hateful, aggressive, negative press releases from a group claiming to represent all the people of North Smithfield. They came right to the point. They said they wanted all news organizations to grab their cameras and to come document the humiliation of public officials caught doing dastardly deeds. There was going to be a huge fight and we wouldn’t want to miss it.

I shook my head from side to side. Where do I start? I suppose I can start by saying I resent being seen as a news organization with so little selfrespect that I’d allow myself and it to be used as a weapon by people looking to vent their anger and frustrations in a public “trial by media” of elected officials.

Look, I completely understand disagreeing with the acts of public officials in the execution of their duties. It is natural, and there’s nothing wrong with it. In fact, disagreement is quite healthy and can be a constructive tool for needed change. How you manage the disagreement, though, to me, is what matters.

Civil discourse would suggest a debate on the issue. But it should be on the issue itself, not personalities. If you disagree with the work output of public officials, speak up and state your point of view. Repeat yourself and convince others to support your point of view. Put the matter to a vote and then, and this is important, abide by the outcome. This is the way things are supposed to go in this country.

To send out press releases telling media to grab their cameras and come down to the meeting so we can capture the humiliation of elected and appointed officials in public is, to say the least, incendiary, manipulative, and downright negative.

I suspect the people behind this would rather see themselves as the elected town officers in charge, instead of the present duly-elected persons. But how on earth do they expect to be able to govern effectively if they gain power through public passion?

Our system of government was framed to provide for the removal of officials whose decisions we don’t like through positive and peaceful means, not though negative and hurtful means. Does it happen the negative way? Sadly, yes. And usually with long-lasting consequences for those involved. It wasn’t meant to be that way.

Politics is a complicated thing. But it is a thing of this earth. And like all things of this earth it is made up of positive and negative elements. I think the positive elements should prevail when charting a course of action. And I submit to you for your consideration that negativism and manipulation is the wrong path to take toward worthwhile goals.