I tell City of Salem officials to “put up or shut up”

Some email messages to public officials are more satisfying to send than others. This one felt great when I sent it off a few minutes ago to Salem City Councilor Laura Tesler, with a cc to other top City officials.

Laura, you, along with some [other] councilors, keep referring to “lies” (or synonymous words) that people have been spreading about the City of Salem. I assume that, as a blogger, writer, and citizen activist, I am one of those people.

 

Please share with me specific examples of those lies you have found in my blog posts. Let’s fact-check them to make sure they really are lies. 

 

I’ll “cc” other City officials so they can take part in this exercise also if they like. 

 

You and other City officials say you are frustrated about misinformation being spread about your actions. Well, frustration can go both ways. It is frustrating to be accused of something in general, without being presented with any specifics.

 

My blog posts have a comment feature. Anyone is able to submit a comment about something I’ve written. 

 

So far no City official has left a comment challenging the accuracy of any of the many posts I’ve written about City of Salem goings-on. I did get one verbal challenge about when/how a decision was made to site a new police facility at the Civic Center, which led me to investigate the history of this and conclude that I was right.

 

I guess you could call this a “put up or shut up” moment for you and other City officials. I ask you to either point out specific examples of factual errors in my blog posts, or stop telling people not to trust my blog. 

 

Keep in mind the difference between (1) facts, and (2) opinions based on facts. 

 

For example, it was a fact that the City Council asked staff to look into the feasibility of converting the library into a police facility. Based on that fact, I did my best to inform people about this, along with my opinion that this posed a threat to the much-loved Salem Public Library.

 

I look forward to getting documented evidence of significant factual errors in my blog posts so I can correct them. Or, not, if you can’t find any.

 

      — Brian

I am absolutely sincere about wanting to learn if they can prove that I've made significant factual errors in my blog posts about City of Salem goings-on.

I'm a believer in the scientific method. Perceived truths about reality always are provisional. "I could be wrong" is one of my favorite mantras. But science also does the "put up or shut up" thing.

If you can't prove that your take on reality is more true than someone else's, stop with the criticism of them. I look forward to either hearing from Mayor Peterson, City Manager Norris, Councilor Tesler, and other City officials about my factual errors.

Or, as I said, not.