Unreasonable Doubt

 

They went after the library. Really. I looked down at my iPad in disbelief. HoCo APFO, a Facebook page created “to inspire citizens to learn more about Adequate Public Facilities Ordinances benefits and drawbacks”, went after the Howard County Library System.

That very same Steam Machine that was unveiled last week? HoCo APFO put it front and center and used it as a poster child for everything that’s wrong in county government. They didn’t rant. They didn’t use inflammatory language. They did what this account always does: present what looks like a calm, reasoned argument that gives one the reassuring feeling that any intelligent person would see it their way.

For some reason, seeing the Library System get the APFO treatment was the last straw for me. I keep an eye on that page because it’s a local account that covers local issues. Over time I have come to realize the cumulative effect of reading post after post. 

It’s not smears and screaming and character assassination. Not outright. It’s wave after wave of suggesting  that local government is not to be trusted, that elected officials aren’t telling you the truth, and that the only accurate facts and figures and charts and graphs are the ones created by HoCo APFO. 

I don’t have the time or the expertise to fact check HoCo APFO. No one to my knowledge has made it their responsibility to fact check their work except the rare, dissenting commenter. On one particular  occasion where their assertions were refuted, the page response was: nothing. There was no response, no engagement, no discussion.

There are quite a few people locally who swear by HoCo APFO and I guess that’s why this entity is able to keep presenting itself in the way that it does: that thoughtful, detail-oriented friend who’s going to give you “the real dirt” that other folks don’t want you to know. Their page is a place you go to receive their knowledge. It is not a place for interaction, or sharing of divergent opinions. 

If you like HoCo APFO, it likes you right back. 

That in itself is not a crime. What concerns me is their long-term investment in influencing people to exist in a permanent state of distrust. It’s not a big jump from what they preach to accusations of “fake news” and “they’re all crooks.” They’re just very, very subtle about it.

What does it mean if they can convince their readers that a mobile classroom - - created to bring science, technology, engineering, arts, and math education to students who wouldn’t have access otherwise - - is yet another symbol of everything that’s wrong with local government? It means they have planted the seed of doubt in their readers so successfully that even the most altruistic institution in Howard County can be made to look untrustworthy.

HoCo APFO has a website dedicated to “providing information on Howard County's Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance.” There are candidate interviews posted there in addition to the sorts of information found on their Facebook page. What I haven’t been able to find is a list of names. Who researches and writes HoCo APFO? One person? A team? Does it receive contributions to forward its mission? If so, where is that information? This is an account that is more than willing to spread doubt and distrust and yet it’s not willing to have the basic transparency of identifying who is behind it.This has always bothered me. 

But, more than anything else, the steady chipping away of public trust is what concerns me the most. Our local democratic process and the way we engage in community issues is poisoned and weakened by this approach. I don’t think it makes for more empowered activism. It fosters dependence on one source of information: acceptance without questioning.

If HoCo APFO’s mission has been to educate the public, they have missed the mark. What they have done is to create a home for doling out unreasonable doubt. Bit by bit, essay by essay, graph by graph. I probably should have addressed this long ago. 

When I saw the library become the target of their well-practiced technique, I knew I had waited too long.