Are You A Town Councilor, Too???

*Please note the sarcasm in the post title.*

Do you disagree with Eric Schwaab, John Julius, Gary Lopez or any other COGer? If so, according to their logic, you must be a Town Councilor (or working for one).

I find it amazing how adamant John Julius is that I am a Councilor. I AM NOT. David Still confirmed it over on the dotcommons site, but that wasn't good enough for him. I don't know what will, and it really doesn't matter. They say things like that because they simply can't handle the idea that people in this town, other than Councilors, disagree with them.

Take the Barnstable Blog, for example. It is an anonymous blog that does not agree with COG. However, instead of just accepting the fact that a regular common citizen is running it, they start accusing people of running it. They have no proof of their accusations, but tell them to the world like it is gospel. (If they're willing to make these kind of allegations, imagine what they would do if they REALLY knew the name of the person who writes it.)

When Schwaab took this act much further a few weeks ago, it really bothered me.

The internet and the blogosphere are designed to give users basic anonymity unless they choose to reveal more. In the case of myself and a great number of other Barnstable commenters and bloggers, we choose to remain anonymous. (We'll get into why in just a sec.) However, Eric Schwaab crossed the line from cyberspace into the real world when he called up Chris Kehoe (a local businessman) and proceeded to harass him with unfounded accusations about the authorship of a blog that has been particularly critical of Schwaab. He was making unfounded claims that Kehoe was/is running the site for a Town Councilor.

Calling someone about a written blog is CRAZY! Calling to accuse someone of writing a blog, when you have absolutely no proof to back yourself up is just INSANE.

Kehoe says Schwaab called 5 times. FIVE! Schwaab says he called only twice. I don't believe him. When Chris Kehoe went to the police to file a complaint, he HAD to have some evidence to back him up. I doubt that a successful businessman like Kehoe is stupid. Not only is filing a false police report a serious crime, but it is one that can quickly be verified via phone records. DUH! I'm willing to bet that an analysis of Kehoe's phone records and Schwaab's (if it is ever done) will show that the candidate called more times than he admits... AND that he lied to the Barnstable Patriot.

However, the big issue here is not the number of times that Schwaab called, but the fact that he actually called! Schwaab has NO proof that Kehoe writes that blog. NONE! Yet, he didn't have any problem calling him to talk to him about that blog. Blogs are online communication tools - telephones are not! If Schwaab really wanted to talk to the writer of the Barnstable Blog, the best way to actually get the REAL author is to contact him on the blog or via the contact info the author may or may not have posted there (like email).

This is why I choose to remain anonymous. I do not want to have phone conversations about politics or my blogging with Eric Schwaab, John Julius, Janet Joakim or anyone else in this town. However, I am more than willing to discuss anything online - here or the dotcommons site. My personal life is exactly that - PERSONAL. Never should my personal and political life cross.

If a person makes the decision to remain anonymous, then others in the online community should have the decency to respect their decision.

I find it disappointing that I need to remain anonymous to protect myself from the politics in Barnstable.