The Observation Deck

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Can you give us some hints?
Are you referring to online forums, like the 437* different "Lakewood" ones on Facebook?



*slight exaggeration...I think

...or the "hey, look over there" messaging opportunities.

Dan

The city worked itself into a frenzy over the past three days.

Tonight they might have learned a good lesson.

Mike

7 Lakewood FB pages just for food and drink.

14 "community pages"

My friend street pages "groups" 114

I am not exaggerating.

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And, BTW, there's a new one in the last few weeks just for greyhound owners in Lakewood.

Dan Alaimo wrote:And, BTW, there's a new one in the last few weeks just for greyhound owners in Lakewood.

How many greyhound owners do we have in Lakewood Dan?

So there are a lot of forums about Lakewood. Why would that equal the death of the city? What am I missing?

Matthew Lee wrote:So there are a lot of forums about Lakewood. Why would that equal the death of the city? What am I missing?

It is hyperbole brought on by fears of social media over the past three days in Lakewood.

The phone calls and the screen dumps shown to me, made me wonder if residents really know Lakewood and or Lakewoodites.

"They are coming to get..."

Then all of the police movements yesterday are broadcast, windows covered boarded up. When I asked why, they said, "Did you read the social media?" Calls coming from many people that should know better, or maybe that I thought knew better.

I was very disappointed.

Mayor George, and Council President O'Malley were ready to do just that at City Hall. But "they" never went there. Councilman Rader did them one better, and joined them and walked with them. Other Lakewoodites had joined with them and walked with them too. Many of us took knees and talked with the protesters. People just like you and I, only with a cause.

While I have never been prouder of Lakewood, the gossip channels have to get their shit together.

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If that is the concern, this is hardly a "Lakewood specific" issue. This is happening in cities all over the country. Rumors spread like wildfire and some are correct, some are incorrect and many are a mix of correct/incorrect.

Again, it may be hyperbole but I think in no way does having forums indicate a "death of the city". I am not a fan of being hyperbolic for the sake of being hyperbolic so may be over analyzing this more than necessary. But, I think words matter and if the point was that community forums can be dangerous and incendiary, then that is a great point to make and should not be obfuscated by claiming the death of Lakewood. At least, IMHO.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:

Dan Alaimo wrote:And, BTW, there's a new one in the last few weeks just for greyhound owners in Lakewood.

How many greyhound owners do we have in Lakewood Dan?

I"ll check with Jenny and Joplin, but they are very secretive about that kind of thing. All they do is whine and look for a treat.

There are 22 members of the group but that's not representative. Figure a few couples joined separately and at least twice that don't do FB, and many multii-dog households. So maybe 100 and that number will grow rapidly as the Florida tracks close and the adoption groups look to place dogs.

Dan Alaimo wrote:

Jim O'Bryan wrote:

Dan Alaimo wrote:And, BTW, there's a new one in the last few weeks just for greyhound owners in Lakewood.

How many greyhound owners do we have in Lakewood Dan?

I"ll check with Jenny and Joplin, but they are very secretive about that kind of thing. All they do is whine and look for a treat.

There are 22 members of the group but that's not representative. Figure a few couples joined separately and at least twice that don't do FB, and many multii-dog households. So maybe 100 and that number will grow rapidly as the Florida tracks close and the adoption groups look to place dogs.

Dan

My point even with your greyhound club, diffusion is the enemy of communities.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:

Dan Alaimo wrote:

Jim O'Bryan wrote:

Dan Alaimo wrote:And, BTW, there's a new one in the last few weeks just for greyhound owners in Lakewood.

How many greyhound owners do we have in Lakewood Dan?

I"ll check with Jenny and Joplin, but they are very secretive about that kind of thing. All they do is whine and look for a treat.

There are 22 members of the group but that's not representative. Figure a few couples joined separately and at least twice that don't do FB, and many multii-dog households. So maybe 100 and that number will grow rapidly as the Florida tracks close and the adoption groups look to place dogs.

Dan

My point even with your greyhound club, diffusion is the enemy of communities.

Jim,
I think I know what you are getting at, but I'm not sure. So many of these things are more on the order of special-interest than community-wide communication. There's good and bad in the various city-wide pages. For instance, the other night, I went there to find out why there were so many helicopters overhead. One had the answer. The only problem was, I was a few blocks too late or I would have gone out to be with the protest.

There are Facebook pages for just about everything that has the faintest semblance of organization in town (my street has a Facebook page, for example), and that's not a bad thing. In this case, people want a place to talk about many things dog-related - who is a good vet, what is the best dog food, use a collar or harness for walking, etc., etc.

But until you get more specific about what you are driving at, this is kind of a dead end. In the past we've had conversations about whether Lakewood should be split into more wards - I think it should; you think no wards. Maybe this is the same kind of thing.

So it's wait and see.

Dan
Jim,
I think I know what you are getting at, but I'm not sure. So many of these things are more on the order of special-interest than community-wide communication. There's good and bad in the various city-wide pages. For instance, the other night, I went there to find out why there were so many helicopters overhead. One had the answer. The only problem was, I was a few blocks too late or I would have gone out to be with the protest.

But until you get more specific about what you are driving at, this is kind of a dead end. In the past we've had conversations about whether Lakewood should be split into more wards - I think it should; you think no wards. Maybe this is the same kind of thing.

So it's wait and see.[/quote]

Dan

How does one put out a fire like Lakewood suffered the other day?

Cost to start a group $0.00, responsibility ZERO.

Dan, I get that there is a ton of great things going on in these groups. Lonely people posting and re-posting their important stuff in each and every one of them. There are people that live on them, creating whole personas of what they want people to think their lives are all about.

But when the fire starts, where is the common sense. Actually it would seem to go the other way.

Lakewood has lost nearly $500 million in assets because of them. At some point you would think people might learn.

And this past week we, well many lost their minds. And Lakewood lost tons of their "cool" status.


One of the many sparks that really started the fear they other night.

I spoke with any person and or civic leader that called, and there were many. And they all trickled back to and could be traced back to posts like this. They only people sane during all of this was the Mayor, Police Chief, Fire Chief, Council people O'Malley and Rader. The crazy people looking for ways to protect themselves from "them." The group above and others said, Let's talk to them and see where that goes. Some of Lakewood's leaders walked with them. Rader and Frantz with his daughter joined the walk. "They are coming to get us," some of them not just live here but help you and your family everyday.

At the same time that Lakewoodites were worrying about "them" coming, saw a house three doors from me go for $50,000 more than asking price as 16 couples went through it in 2 days!

Yes people have right to fear things, yes people have rights to prepare. But damn could it be something that is real.

Dan, everyone, I would encourage you to go Downtown no the real one. You think it was a war zone. I figure West 6th was destroyed and Euclid was destroyed. Actually considering the circumstances there was very little damage. Maybe 1/4 of the bars and restaurants on West 6th had broken windows. Most damage was the drug stores downtown. All were emptied. All should go down, it will ease your mind.

When are we going to have a serious talk about white kids on skateboards? Because they are not coming here, they are returning home here.


Pogo, this was created for the civil rights rights in the 50s and 60s, then pollution, then Vietnam...

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Jim,
You provide some answers to my questions here, but then I have follow up questions to to your answers, and then follow up questions to further answers.
I get that there is a lot of fakery out there, but that is a national problem - it starts with the WHITE House - as well as a local problem. Our local problem is another matter as we know the players. Until we get together to talk this through, I don't think we are going to get anywhere. N95 masks on, 6-ft distances, probably using cell phones in order to hear each other - or maybe we should just stay home and talk on the phone.

Meanwhile, I continue to think that the main trouble makers are white supremacists posing as BLM or whoever they need to pose as. I look at the message you posted and it's as phony as a 3 bill. Primary evidence, misspelling, in this case in the signature area, specifically "BlackLives Maters". Maybe they thought the typo was funny. This kind of misdirection has been reported widely. I'm not making it up. I've heard stories about the selective jamming of cell phone signals. The strategy is to start trouble and then clear out before it really gets started. Like everything in this crazy situation, make of it what you will.

Here is the strongest bit of evidence I've come across at an Auto Zone in Minneapolis that was soon thereafter looted and torched. It appears that the man is wearing police equipment and using a baton to smash the window. The umbrella is probably to obscure his white skin, which is visible at one point. Also note the military posture and bearing.

Dan Alaimo wrote:Jim,
You provide some answers to my questions here, but then I have follow up questions to to your answers, and then follow up questions to further answers.
I get that there is a lot of fakery out there, but that is a national problem - it starts with the WHITE House - as well as a local problem. Our local problem is another matter as we know the players. Until we get together to talk this through, I don't think we are going to get anywhere. N95 masks on, 6-ft distances, probably using cell phones in order to hear each other - or maybe we should just stay home and talk on the phone.

Dan



Dan, the problem is tribal in nature, and its strength comes from close mindedness.

Social Media reminds me of dynamite and the A-Bomb.

Invented for the good of mankind, only to go terribly south when mankind got their hands on it.

There have always been con men and rubes. But look at Lakewood's past. Was it the false information or the good minded souls spreading the misinformation that has harmed this community? I would say the latter. Nationally Trump can lie 5,000 times, but it is the fool that believes the lies, and complicit fool that spreads them that does the real harm. People know Trump is a liar, but what about your neighbor, or brother at the dinner table. Certainly he has vetted it!

The video above that you posted is the perfect visual aid.

What does this show? Does it even matter? Do you know who it is? Was he a St. Paul policeman or not. His ex-wife thought so. But I have seen this video used and stills used to make various points on various sides. Diffusion leads to confusion, and that just like this person gets away with this action. In 2004 at the very start of this project we came up with the term SIF - Serious internet Fact. What that meant was bullshit seen posted by two or more. So you see a name with something on it one place, and then again, it has to be true. This is what FB is built on. That and being an digital 4-H platform for hobbies and breeding programs.

Ask any business that relies on the InterWeb for business. Ads, no one reads them, but remarks from friends and family are gold. That is the wave all of this happens on, getting good thinking people you know to repeat the bullshit. Like laundering money, goes in dirty, comes out clean. While the fake ANTIFA is bullshit, so are the thousands of people nationwide that posted and re-posted the bullshit. I would say the tens of thousands eager to repost it are a bigger danger.

How to fix it? Who knows the genie is truly out of the bottle.

But I would have hoped, Lakewood would have learned their lesson by now. I was wrong.

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