JACKSON – While saying he “normally ignores the noise that is social media,” Township Council President Robert Nixon has addressed what he described as a series of online personal attacks regarding himself and his family.
Nixon raised the issue during the March 12 council meeting at the Jackson municipal building.
“I normally ignore the noise that is social media and anonymous blogs that are long on information and short on honesty, but it’s hard to ignore (them) when threats are levied against me and my family,” Nixon said.
Nixon said that since Feb. 13, when council members condemned religious hate, but did not take formal action to put their feelings on the record, statements calling him a bigot who panders to haters have been posted online.
“I am not going to ignore the attempts at creative editing online that seek to form a false narrative about me, or about my colleagues, or about this town, and I have to speak out against the keyboard warriors and the willfully dishonest (people) who attempt to divide this community,” he said.
“Recently, a blog was posted online of a short clip of me speaking in 2016. There was a suggestion that somehow what I was saying had some kind of ominous tone to it and it was a clip with no context,” he said.
Nixon said he went back and listened to the entire exchange among council members.
“I was answering a question about an issue we used to deal with a lot … as it relates to real estate solicitations and what we can do about them. Could we ban them? Could we restrict them? Could we limit the times, the dates, the places?” Nixon said. “After and through (those discussions), we developed our ‘no knock’ law.”
He said if he had one wish for Jackson it would be for people to stay off the internet and “to actually talk to each other.”
“Talking to each other is the only way we will ever truly know one another and ever truly get the facts. So I need to ask the question directly. Why the insinuations? Why embed a false reality? And why spread anonymous comments if your purpose is anything other than to be divisive?” Nixon said.
He said free speech provides people with ill will the means to spread their ill will, but he said he has the free speech to speak out against it.
“I am smart enough to know that people who intend to do harm will not be slowed by the truth, but I renew my offer that only real communication can bring people together,” Nixon said. “But we need willing partners to communicate with, who do not hide behind anonymous websites, lawyers and Facebook pages.”
Nixon said the situation was not about him specifically, but about Jackson.