I’ve unsubscribed from a local politics mailing list that I’ve been on for a while. Out of an abundance of not wanting to name names, I’m not naming names; chances are there’s one of these in your community too.
The ground rules of this list are almost certainly that of typical politics lists. There’s a list owner, who sets the rules. One of the rules is that the list is a private list, with no reporters on it and no one is supposed to share anything they get from the list to anyone who’s not on the list. Occasionally someone transgresses and they get visibly kicked off the list. A number of small-time politicians are on the mailing list, and it’s run by a former elected official.
I’m not sure how I ever got on the list, but I stayed on it. I didn’t feel like I could contribute anything to it, because if I was outed as a blogger I’m sure I’d be kicked off. And I couldn’t copy anything from it to anyone else (even though I did from time to time).
Small town politics can be very small and very bitter. The straw that broke the camel’s back was whining that there wasn’t enough parking near Farmer’s Market downtown, since apparently walking 5 minutes to an enormous structure nearby wasn’t enough.
Not my clowns, not my circus. My inbox is full enough as is. If I need to read this particular list, I’ll just FOIA the contents of the inboxes of the elected officials that subscribe to it.
(shakes dust off shoes)
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