Thank you Rachel. I agree with you 100%. I have also seen his Twitter posts. They are chilling.
Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone On Friday, May 6, 2022, 11:48 AM, Rachel Marie Schachter <[email protected]> wrote: I've had a difficult time over the past few days piecing together why I have found this whole situation so distressing, but I'm going to try to get a little bit of it out. First and foremost, in order to have any kind of productive conversation, people need to agree broadly on terms. That applies to LincolnTalk in that throughout these discussions, folks have been using concepts of different opinions, multiple perspectives, and misinformation interchangeably. Seth Keshel is in the business of conspiracy theory and misinformation, so in the context of last night's event, it's impossible to agree to terms with him if you have what I believe to be any reasonable standards about trustworthy research processes and sources. You can't prove a point against someone you can't agree to terms with. So as nice as the idea is, there's no such thing as showing up and proving an opposing point. He's not an expert. He has no relevant credentials. He has powerful and scary ideas. And ideas are dangerous. Dangerous ideas lead to dangerous action. Keshel aligns himself with Trump, yeah, and also with Steve Bannon. People who have shamelessly, publicly, and repeatedly perpetuated emotional and psychological violence against vulnerable populations and individuals and condoned physical violence. I do fear the ideas of people who are enthusiastically following him, coming from out of state to rally behind him. I think it's reasonable to. Hell, just as a visibly queer and non-binary person, I've been subject to slurs and verbal threats to my physical safety by people who align themselves with this camp my whole life. And I'm white and have access to enough wealth to live in Lincoln. An event starring someone like Seth Keshel being welcome in Lincoln with open arms in the name of free speech is the kind of thing that makes my friends and family with far less privilege than me feel unsafe coming to visit me in my town. And that trade is miles from worth it to me. I can support his right to free speech in this very big country and not want it welcome in my hometown, and be very distraught by the fact that it is. Those ideas aren't in conflict. It's also honestly ironic to me that people are upset about being civil on here when Seth Keshel regularly uses his Twitter to call people who don't agree with him things like devils, demons, satanists, and damn fools, and says way more disgusting things that I'm not about to copy and paste. Yes, people need to follow rules here and be respectful. But I don't want someone who's publicly and earnestly comporting themselves that way to be speaking at my town's major venue regardless of what they're speaking for. I would think that would undermine anyone's integrity, but it seems like that's not the case here somehow? I want Lincoln to be a safe place for me, my friends, and my family. That doesn't mean, by any stretch, that I have to be welcoming to someone whose ideas I think are dangerous and whose character honestly disgusts me. Rachel Marie Schachter On Fri, May 6, 2022 at 10:58 AM Stephanie Smoot <[email protected]> wrote: I enjoyed last nights meeting and feel encouraged to speak out against all the negative emails I had been receiving. I found the perspectives refreshing on the issue of election integrity, a subject that is causing controversy in our country. I left with the takeaway that fair elections, and the perception that the election process is fair, is something we should all be concerned about. The event was well-attended. Trends in voting data and on how to improve voting integrity in the future was presented intelligently. Anyone who was not completely polemicized, could also have attended and found it thought provoking, and not scary. I even got to meet the candidate for congress in district 5 (thats our district), Caroline Colarusso . I don’t know who attended from Lincoln since I don’t know many people here. Some of the data was from Rhode Island examples, that might be why some RI people attended. I’m glad my family gave me time from my other duties to step out and attend. Stephanie Smoot | | Virus-free. www.avg.com | -- The LincolnTalk mailing list. To post, send mail to [email protected]. Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/. Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. Change your subscription settings at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. -- The LincolnTalk mailing list. To post, send mail to [email protected]. Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/. Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. Change your subscription settings at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.
-- The LincolnTalk mailing list. To post, send mail to [email protected]. Search the archives at http://lincoln.2330058.n4.nabble.com/. Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. Change your subscription settings at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.
