That is why I got off a lot of socials, most recently reddit. The comments just had me constantly losing my temper and faith in humanity. That said, it's horrible to hear people in favor of tearing down a historical structure like Eastern. My bet is that you're probably right, they're not really from the area or trolls, but still troubling. Hope this all doesn't end with demolition...old schools are so easy to adapt and reuse.
Yeah, I'm finding a silver lining in that I'm honing my debate skills, learning to avoid using fallacies, keeping on subject, avoiding personal attacks, etc... I've kinda found it helps me hone my own views as well, occasionally seeing somewhere I went wrong. These particular interactions are driving me up a wall but I feel if everyone just lets them own the conversation then who will decisionmakers ultimately listen to? If I get through to one or two people then I've won IMO. Anyways, glad to know others see the same problems.
I quit Facebook a while back, I followed a foraging group, which became political! There would be comments about gathering mushrooms from private and State lands, saying it was anyone's right to gather what they want where they want. They commented on a woman who wondered if she should return eagle feathers that she had found as only Native Americans are allowed to gather eagle and hawk feathers, they belong to them and the State, many were appalled that anyone would even ask such a question, of course you should keep the feathers! I could not believe that a site about mushrooms had wing nuts saying nasty things to people they preserved as liberal because they follow the laws.
I've never posted, don't react to posts and very rarely comment on Facebook but do scroll my feed and keep up with family. It's unfortunate how just about everything gets politicized and divvied up between the left and the right, even moreso in recent years when that's meant dealing with increasingly extreme people at every turn. Everyone seems to agree that polarization is a bad, even dangerous trend, yet the trend continues. I think one of my favorite sayings applies: "No individual raindrop believes itself responsible for the flood"
The Lansing subreddit is particularly frustrating for me. They're very group thinky and often don't see the bigger picture. Any attempt to have a reasonable discussion usually results in downvotes due to wrongthink.
All the threads that get like this seem to have a lot of shares. I think people are sharing certain posts to other political activist-type subreddits or outside forums then people from said forums pile on with likes/dislikes. This also happens to anything homeless related, if you dare suggest that the homeless shouldn't be allowed to permanently set up shop in parks and on the river trail you'll see dozens if not 100+ downvotes.
I almost used homeless-related issues as an example. You're 100% right. They'd be fine with the city setting up a shanty town on the Capitol lawn for homeless people, but god forbid any of the local developers actually build an apartment building.
I saw a report about the huge redevelopment of the Grand Rapids riverfront. In includes a soccer stadium, hotels, retail and housing, a new riverwalk with bridges across the Grand River and has had the State funding approved. Wow why can't we dream big like GR? This could be old news, but I just saw the report today.
It's all been a long time coming. I'm (more than) a bit jealous of GR. Over the years I've reluctantly come to realize the lack of vision around here is a community-wide problem, not just city leadership like I wanted to believe. The lack of any major philanthropists doesn't help either.
I think that if all the projects currently proposed actually happen, especially the New Vision stuff, Lansing will finally have some real momentum. Maybe we'll see a boom like began in GR 15 or 20 years ago or Ann Arbor a bit more recently
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I think that if all the projects currently proposed actually happen, especially the New Vision stuff, Lansing will finally have some real momentum. Maybe we'll see a boom like began in GR 15 or 20 years ago or Ann Arbor a bit more recently