Normally we do not allow anonymous articles but I received feedback from a subscriber that I appreciated for several reasons:
(1) It wasn’t unhinged and did not devolve into personal attacks
(2) It presented facts in stating a point
(3) It offered a differing perspective respectfully without demand for censorship
(4) My name is on this, so technically not anonymous
I am also posting it as an example of what this site is about – a discussion of important issues involving differing viewpoints.
This website exists for every resident of Berkeley Heights and Mountainside.
First off, as a semi-recent arrival to Berkeley Heights (2020), I know that I come in at somewhat of a disadvantage when it comes to a historical knowledge on local politics. Coming across your articles on Tap and ultimately your page have completely changed that, which I truly appreciate.
I have a 6 year old in the school system and a 2 year old that will soon be in the school system, and your page has really helped with my understanding of the local issues so that I can be a more informed voter, as well as volunteer my time where it would be most needed.
As I know your page is run by a number of people with their own opinions, I know that each article will have some of the authors’ perspectives alongside the objective facts and information. I have pretty much aligned with your viewpoints, and even those that I didn’t agree with I at least knew where you were coming from.
That being said, while I know that your website’s main goal is to allow somewhat unfiltered content, I do have specific concerns about the series that I am e-mailing about. I commented in Substack on the first entry, and the second entry gave me a similar bad feeling in my stomach. The author comes across as already having their mind made up about the situation, and certainly seems to be showing a negative bias to the trans community at large. Also, as a quick fact check on one point – University of Milwaukee DOES list 45 pronouns, but the author fails to mention that this included all variants (for example: they, them, their, theirs, themself is counted as 5, but really refers to one pronoun).
I e-mail you not to make any demands to censor or pre-approve content, but just to say that these articles may alienate some of your readers, and potentially skew your overall message.
I will certainly continue reading and following along, but as a fan of your site I did feel it was worth saying something. I truly appreciate your time and effort, thank you.
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