A Few Weird Things

Two unrelated things on my mind this morning:

I was surprised to see a thread written by the venomous Twitter troll account “mjm not super” turn up word for word on Facebook as written by a gentleman named Thomas Edward Garb. For one brief second I thought our troll had revealed himself. No dice. Thomas Edward Garb appears to be a made-up account that doesn’t link up to a real identity, so our school system’s toxic troll remains a mystery.

This blog post which focuses on BOE candidate Sabina Taj left me scratching my head. The blog itself, entitled RoCo in HoCo, is described by its author as follows:

So it’s meant to be satire? Or it’s meant to be informative using a fictional premise? It has been hard for me to ascertain the sweet spot that the author is going for.

The piece about Ms. Taj is cloyingly sweet and, if I were she, I’d be embarrassed. In fact, it borders on being creepy.

We sat down to chat about Sabina’s bid for a spot on the BOE. I feared it would be hard for me to focus because Sabina’s big, dark eyes, intensified by her silky tresses, set off by her cafe-au-lait skin, draw you in and won’t let go.

I’m not sure if this piece was meant to “humanize” Ms. Taj who has recently been accused (unfairly, I believe) of unkindness and divisiveness or if it is purely meant to amuse the folks who support her already. In my opinion voters would best be served by attending a meet and greet with Ms. Taj and skipping this blog post.

RoCo in HoCo as a blog is lovely and gushy and fun. There’s nothing else like it on the local scene. But I strongly question using this particular device for wading into the BOE race. I don’t know that it serves the candidate or the voters. It also sexualizes its subject in a way that detracts from the very real issues at play in the BOE race.

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