Just shinning the light on the ideological far right comments I received after posting a short statement on the Protect Grand Rapids sponsored campaign

Two weeks ago, GRIID posted an article about the Protect Grand Rapids campaign, which is essentially centered around getting people to thank the Grand Rapids City Commission for adopting the two ordinances, ordinances which will further criminalize the unhoused.

I believe that the group behind this online campaign is the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, primarily because of how the campaign looks, the language they are using, along with the fact that the Chamber was involved in a similar effort last year, all of which is explained in the post.

The graphic here on the right, is the image they are using in this online campaign, which is a sponsored campaign, since the Chamber of Commerce and their members have no problem spending money on sponsored Facebook posts. 

About a week ago, I wrote the following statement on the sponsored post from Protect Grand Rapids, “The adoption of the ordinances is putting profit first, which is what the GR Chamber of Commerce is all about!”

Since I wrote these comments, several people have responded. What follows is a rundown of the comments and my responses. 

Nancy Jo Wilson

Jeff Smith Nonsense. People on the street should be expected to follow the same laws we all have to follow. And communists don’t help out city at all.

Jeff Smith

Nancy Jo Wilson what the city adopted was two separate ordinances, not laws. Get your facts straight. And for the record, politically I embrace the philosophy of Anarchism, not Communism…..so don’t accuse people of something they are not. For instance, I never referred to you as an idiot, but if I had, you might be bothered by that label.

Nancy Jo Wilson

Jeff Smith I have heard you speak many times before and you have always been a communist. And anarchism is what destroyed downtown Grand Rapids. We don’t need either idea in Grand Rapids. Is Soros still paying you each month?

Jeff Smith

Nancy Jo Wilson wow, so much ignorance, where to start?

Nancy Jo Wilson

Jeff Smith Don’t bother. I don’t respect communists. Or Marxists.

Charles Bellgraph

Jeff Smith. So … we don’t have to follow ordinances like we do laws???

That is a new one!

Jeff Smith

Charles Bellgraph not if they cause harm and oppression. Slavery was legal, genocide was legal, Jim Crow Laws were legal, fossil fuels companies denying climate change is legal, the production and deployment of nuclear weapons is legal. Every social movement fought against oppressive laws, so yeah, we will resist this shit too!

Charles Bellgraph

Jeff Smith. Not the point.

You said to Nancy that they were ordinances, not laws.

Are you confused? There are reading comprehension classes you can take!

Also, everyone knows that the climate changes however people don’t cause it.

Plus Liberal Socialist Communist Nazi Racist Democrats are pretty ARROGANT thinking that they know what the ideal temperature of the Earth should be.

Jeff Smith

Charles Bellgraph the point Chuck, is that these ordinances are oppressive and we will resist them and the Chamber’s tactic of buying off local politicians.

Greg Reed

Jeff Smith climate change is a proven hoax perpetrated by the left you have just shown your communist hand.

Jeff Smith

Gregg Reed if you think that Climate Change is a hoax, then you are willfully an idiot.

Eric Michael (this person has since removed their comment, but my responses is still there) 

Jeff Smith, you just showed your Communist hand. You are like the same kind of people who spit on my uncle when he came back from Vietnam.

Jeff Smith

Eric Michael the notion that anti-war activists spit on returning GI’s who were in Vietnam is a fabrication. Read “The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory, and the Legacy of Vietnam”. The author is a Vietnam Veteran. I’m more like the GI’s who came back to the US to join the anti-war movement, because the saw the atrocities committed against Vietnamese civilians. See the excellent documentary entitled, Sir No Sir.

To be clear, I don’t usually respond to these types of non-sensical comments. I don’t generally respond because I don’t believe there is any point in trying to have a conversation with people who are either ideologically opposed to what I believe or who are just trolls who get paid to respond to those who challenge systems of power and oppression. 

I decided to post this exchange for several reasons. First, because for me, it speaks to the kinds of people that support the GR Chamber of Commerce, or at least what they stand for. Second, since this was a sponsored post from Protect Grand Rapids, my comments the the responses I received would be more widely seen, which if the nature of sponsored posts on Facebook. Lastly, I decided to post this exchange, simply because it shines a light on the ridiculousness of the ideological right, which is a little reminder of how shallow much of the discourse is, particularly in the social media world.