Open Discussion on Facebook

There is a Facebook page in my community that is labeled as an open discussion page. It was created in response to what was viewed as suppression of speech on the official pages of the different neighborhood associations. The moderators of the neighborhood associations' pages refused to allow certain conversations because certain topics inevitably degraded into ad hominem attacks, racist or otherwise bigoted rants, and generally reduced participation by many members of the community. In some cases, they even blocked participation from individuals who refused to comply with the rules. Some members of our neighborhood saw this as "censorship" and created the open discussion page.

A quick review of the open discussion page finds a lot of complaints about litter, dog poop, double parking, and other standard complaints of urban living. There are your basic questions from newer residents asking for reviews of local merchants or recommendations for local car repair shops. Unsurprisingly, the majority of content is pretty banal.

But mixed in with these are rants from people who can't stand that the immigrant community they just moved into (or in some cases, lived in their entire lives) is full of immigrants. Or there are tirades from people who are just shocked that the only neighborhood they could find a house or condo they could afford actually has low and moderate income people living right next door. Or diatribes from people who wonder why this neighborhood didn't magically turn into a professional, upper-middle income enclave after they moved in. Sometimes these individuals use veiled or coded language. Sometimes they do not.

I believe that the people who use social media to air their views about "those people" are a minority in my community. I believe that they resort to Facebook because the feeling of social distance appears to protect them from the consequences of their words. At the same time, I also believe that these "open discussion" Facebook pages magnifies their views and makes it look like there are more people in this community who are racist, classist bigots than there really are.

I choose not to participate on this page. Occasionally, I see a thread because a friend will comment or like something and it shows up in my feed. I generally ignore it because I don't really need to proof that there are people who don't know how to engage in civil discourse. I don't need further confirmation that some people believe that racism is only about black versus white. I certainly don't need any more evidence that we still have some work to do to foster an inclusive sense of community in my neighborhood.

Those of use who are frequently the targets of intolerance become sensitive to the coded language of prejudice. Those of us who are not often (or ever) discriminated against, but who empathize and are allies in cause of social justice, are similarly alert to the many covert ways biased views are expressed. You are never sure whether a comment or post is intending to be racist, sexist, or classist. It's like when you are a person of color, you are never sure that when you are seated at the back of the restaurant whether it is because that is where the next available table was or whether that's where they always seat the people like you. The constant uncertainty about the intentions of other people can be overwhelming. If you've never lived like this, it may be hard to understand how your words could come to mean anything other than what you believe you intended to say. And the misunderstandings grow to a point that it makes community building difficult or impossible. Once we've all thoroughly offended each other, it is that much harder to trust each other.

I understand the desire for an unmoderated space where neighbors can talk about whatever they want to talk about. However, in diverse communities, there is both diverse communication styles and a lack of common experience. Without a sincere commitment to understanding each other, and without the tools necessary to do so, open discussion pages only appear to amplify retrograde views by the very few bigots in my neighborhood or contribute to the distrust between neighbors.