You Know You’ve “Arrived” When …

You know you’ve arrived when you get hate mail that accuses you of:

• Having a racial bias towards Hispanics.
• Working for the Koch brothers.
• Saying fu** you to anyone who wants to move to Park City.
• Not allowing comments on Park Rag (which I do), thus violating the whole idea behind citizen journalism.

Without further comment, here is the email I received from Fred Flintstone (yes, that’s who it came from). I’ll post it, because maybe Fred is right, and as always, I’ll let you be the judge.

I will have some comments after the email though because even a racist, Park City hating, censor-loving, Koch Brother apologist deserves the right to defend himself.

Josh, it would be helpful if you allowed comments on the stories on the Park Rag or we should call it Park on The Rag. It is clear you have have a racial bias towards Hispanics and other none whites like yourself. It is also clear you are one prejudice individual and only want the Park Rag to have slant on what you publish. Sounds a lot like the Republican party, who knows you could be getting funds form the Koch brothers like others in the West who do things like the Park Rag.

You also are one of those I got mine so F U to all that want to come to Park City after me. I guess the we got ours folks prior to you landing in Park City must have felt the same way, shit we are here so no its time to screw everyone else. Last time I checked no one if forcing you to keep your racist bias ass here in PC.

To bad this is not the case as you say on your site. No filters than open it up for comments VS your filtering. 

“We believe citizen journalism has a fundamental and important place in our community. Because all of us can become citizen journalists, it allows us to share more and different information without traditional filters being placed upon our speech.”

Fred: “Josh, it would be helpful if you allowed comments on the stories on the Park Rag or we should call it Park on The Rag.”

Josh: You can comment on anything by clicking on a post. It will take you to the individual post. From there you can press on the comment button and enter your thoughts. Every comment does require me to approve it. I do that primarily to stop hundreds of spam comments. The other option is to require a login, and I thought this would be easier for people. I think I only have not approved two real comments since I started. Those appeared to be follow on comments that were trolling and trying to get into a flame war. That’s not what I want the Park Rag to be.

Fred: “It is clear you have have a racial bias towards Hispanics and other none whites like yourself.”

Josh: I’m not sure if Fred is saying I’m bias for or against Hispanics. Further I’m not sure if he is saying I’m white and bias against those who aren’t white or I’m not white and biased against whites. Let’s start with the easy one. I’m of German/Swedish descent. It doesn’t get much more white caucasian than that. As for being biased, we all are biased. I don’t consider myself racist though (maybe other people’s opinions vary).

If Fred was saying that I’m anti-Hispanic, that is not true whatsoever. If you look at my posts I think you’ll see that I am concerned with poor performance of Hispanic kids. I want solutions that solve that problem. I asked why there weren’t Hispanic parents on the School Master Planning Committee. I want to hold our local governments responsible for the actions they take to ensure they make things better. I worry that more of these kids riding a bus for longer, won’t help performance.

On the contrary, if Fred is saying that I have some bias towards helping our Hispanic kids, then I guess I’m guilty of that. When only 9% of Hispanic kids are proficient in English Studies by the 11th grade, there is a problem. That’s a problem that needs to be rectified, but done so in the right way.

Fred: “It is also clear you are one prejudice individual and only want the Park Rag to have slant on what you publish.”

Josh: Fred, have you emailed and offered to write? Have you read the posts from Julia? Have you read the letters I’ve posted that give the exact contrary position to what I stated? Have you read guest editorials? Have you read my posts when I tell people I got it wrong?

Fred: “Who knows you could be getting funds form the Koch brothers like others in the West who do things like the Park Rag. ”

Josh: Dude, did you see my post right before you emailed that said I was voting for Joe Biden?

Fred: “You also are one of those I got mine so F U to all that want to come to Park City after me.”

Josh: Not sure where that comes from, other than it’s a standard insult, along with NIMBY. But, I’ll give you my opinion. Other people, lots and lots of other people, are going to come here whether I want them to or not. If the trend continues many of those will be second home owners. I am torn on that. You read articles from Teri Orr and she mourns the loss of what Park City was. I can see that. I also know that second home owners pay a lot of taxes, so those of us in Park City can have nicer things than we otherwise might.

What I don’t want to see is an acceleration of growth in the Basin. I believe in existing property rights and agreements that limit what can be done with property. I don’t believe we should do things that loosen those agreements thus making it easier for expansion to happen here. Some may comment that I’m saying FU to people who want to come here later. I’m saying, I’m for property rights … just the ones that are already on the books.

Fred: ‘To bad this is not the case as you say on your site. No filters than open it up for comments VS your filtering.”

Josh: Like I mentioned above, you can comment. I will most likely approve the comment, as long as it contributes to the conversation on any side of the issue. The other option is that you can start your own blog, go to public meetings for about 4 years to get some perspective, pay for everything out of your pocket, and try to get a following. Or, if you have a perspective, and can be civil, you can write here. You would just have to use your real name. You know, it’s harder to criticize someone when you have to look them in the eye at the supermarket.