John Gaccione

9/28/17

For immediate Release

Folks here in the mailroom at headquarters have been inundated with a plethora of negative feedback from the so-called “satirical” postings that have been appearing on ND. Many of our members have been offended and have sounded the alarm.

Here are a few helpful thoughts to consider if you are faced with these poor tasteless attempts at satire and so-called sarcastic humor.

One simple and easy way to deal with satire and/or sarcastic humor is to close your eyes and don’t look at it, don’t read it and don’t think about it. Treat it like the past KPPCSD boards attitude toward the budget deficit, ignore it and given enough time it may just go away. In that particular case, ignorance may have been bliss.

When you encounter one of these pesky posts stand your ground. Do not yield to these jeering, taunting and sneering screeds. Instead, lock your jaw, keep your head held high and thumb your nose at satire. Think of past KPPCSD board members choosing to initiate legal action aimed at citizens rather then admitting they had made a procedural error.

These so-called attempts at satire tend to poison the well so that our citizens have great difficult separating fact from fiction. One of our past board members continually repeats the claim that Kensington is the 5th safest town in the state. When the obscure survey that produced the claim is examined, it turns out 3 towns out of the top 5 have contracted for police services. Was this claim meant to be satirical or perhaps an ironic statement?

And what of the continual barrage of false information concerning the fate of our police services? Some in our community repeatedly post that the members of the Kensington police department are going to be fired, police services will be contracted to another agency and the citizens do not have a vote on the matter. The poster also freely admits he doesn’t know the full details or the background details of the issues involved. Is this just more dark sarcastic humor or yet another failed attempt at satire?

We also have to acknowledge that many of the folks on ND are very sensitive to personal criticism. In fact the rules and regs established by ND prohibit shaming and any sort of ad hominem attacks. But this doesn’t always deter some posters from lashing out at others who do not agree with their views. And after some particularly harsh exchanges we see posters retreating into what seems like their personal neuroses to defend their actions. It would be darkly ironic if it were not so real.

The question remains, is this continual plague of satiric postings more helpful than hurtful? Can the faithful stay the course and just so no to satire?

After all, what’s so funny about satire anyway? Can I get an amen?

Keeping Kensington Keen