People can be idiots and make your blood boil. You either want to attack them in some way or give up and walk away.
The Brockporter Online News Magazine has been in existence since June of 2010. It was started to provide a source of accurate information about things that affect the people of Brockport at the time of the campaign to dissolve the Brockport Village government.
There is no consistent, accurate place to get information about the governance of Brockport and there was no attempt to help people connect the dots and make sense out of what was happening to them, their families, and their community. In this vacuum, The Brockporter was born.
While it is a secular project, it is a spiritual ministry of sorts with its purpose to help people become their better selves and to create, working with each other, a Beloved Community. In small ways it has seen its successes, and in many ways it has also failed.
Like any good thing in life there are elements of evil which would destroy and sabotage whatever good has been done especially if that good interferes with their plans which usually are more self serving and not in the interests of the greater community.
Since the time of Nixon and Reagan we have lived in a society in the United States which has become more individualistic and we have seen income and wealth inequality become greater than at any other time in human history destroying the fabric and infrastructure of our great nation. We have seen corporate interests supported and promulgated which is leading to the destruction of our environment, and our society. The interdependent web of existence is eschewed in favor of personal and corporate gain. Money has become the new bottom line and corporate profit is valued above all other things. In contemporary America we worship the Golden Calf and push God aside.
In Brockport we have seen the exploitation of our building stock described as "investment" and the extraction of profit from our neighborhoods as a legitimate business. The quality of life in these neighborhoods has significantly suffered requiring more resources to maintain public order which the "business owners" of these rental profits want to eliminate to further enhance their profit. The quality of life in these neighborhoods due to low community attachment, and drunken and disorderly behavior, has significantly decreased leading to a lowering of property values which makes the properties only desirable for more rentals and the downward spiral continues.
When the dots get connected and people with a stake in their community become aware of the destructive impact of increasing rentals in formerly family friendly neighborhoods, the slum lords get nasty and attack the messengers of the truth because they feel their economic security is being threatened.
As Kent Keith has pointed out, in spite of these attacks, in spite of the dirty tricks, we must continue on trying to do good anyway. In the last week, the Brockporter has been threatened with the F.B.I., local police investigations, and recently cyber bullying with someone or a group of people cutting and pasting spam into the comment sections of the various articles. This tactic seems familiar and is similar to the other tactics of the dissolutionist, pro-slumlord faction in the Village.
Keith writes:
The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
There are those who would build Brockport up, lift her up to the world, and those who would exploit her for their personal profit and in the process tear her down, bring her to her knees, and kill her off completely through dissolution to enhance their personal profit.
It is the belief and hope of the good people of Brockport that the truth, and good will triumph and the avarice, dirty tricks, and exploitation will fail.
Jesus said that the way to the Kingdom is to love as I have loved. The Brockporter loves Brockport and wants what is best for her. True love requires honesty, discipline, and commitment. In spite of the attacks, dirty tricks, and sabotage, The Brockporter will carry on, anyway and invites your support.
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