A Chicago Alderman Is Getting Sued By His Residents For Blocking Them On Social Media
(The Block Club)--The federal class-action lawsuit, filed Thursday in the Northern District of Illinois, alleges Ald. Jim Gardiner is violating the First Amendment by deleting comments or blocking people he disagrees with on his government page.
“In an effort to suppress dissent in this forum, Alderman Gardiner routinely hides or deletes comments that criticize him or his policies, thereby making those comments invisible to the other constituents who are engaging in discussion on Alderman Gardiner’s Facebook page and preventing certain citizens from engaging in debate with other members of the community,” the lawsuit states.
The six plaintiffs are all critics of the alderman and have been blocked or had their comments removed from his Facebook page multiple times, ranging from the past two weeks to when Gardiner was elected in 2019, according to the lawsuit.
Everyone involved in this story is….
This is one of those times where you read a headline and come to the realization that you just DESPISE every single person involved in this story from every angle. It is the most 2021 story you could possibly imagine. A political figure trying to silence any dissension and people harassing him and his page online. Then, that group of people complaining about being silenced decide to take it to court claiming free speech. To those people I say simply
I don't care if this alderman is the biggest piece of shit of all time. He probably is. You don't get to clog up the courts with a stupid lawsuit about him blocking you on social media or deleting your comments. He is not forbidding you from complaining on the internet. He is not silencing you. You know what you can do instead of commenting on his facebook? Start a website that says JimGardinerSucksAss.Com and promote the shit out of it everywhere you go. Meme the shit out of him. Start a facebook group. Do all of those things for years and then, more than anything…when it's time to vote…vote for someone else. If enough people in your ward agree with your websites and movement you won't have to worry about this soft ass corrupt politician anymore. He'll be gone. You don't need to relentlessly comment on his facebook page to do that.
To Jim Alderman…you pussy. People this soft should not be allowed to be in public office. They can't stand an ounce of criticism. Do you know how many people are going to tell me to suck a dick in the comment section of this blog or on twitter? Probably all of them. It's not my favorite part of this job, but it comes with the territory. And you know what…sometimes if everyone seemingly hates what you have to say that is a good indication that you should reevaluate your position. Not change, but at least reevaluate. Take time to pause, think, listen, and then tell the haters that they're stupid and to shut the fuck up because Seth Jones IS good at hockey. Imagine being a blogger who blocked anyone who ever said anything negative. I want to switch jobs with Jim Gardiner for one day. This fucking guy makes a $100k per year to be an alderman. That is on the record payments. None of the cash payments for other "side jobs". When you make that money as an elected official your entire job is to deal with people complaining and try to make things right or at least make arguments as to why the people complaining are wrong. And you have to do that all day on social media if that is what it takes. That's the job and then vote on shit sometimes. That's it, as far as I can tell. No blocking allowed because that is what you were elected to do.