Rep. John Bradford KS - Facebook Sensitivity Training
Dear Rep. Bradford,
First, congratulations on winning your campaign in the KS House 40th District!
Now that you are a public figure, things are changing a bit. I’m sure you learned a few lessons about being a public figure when you ran for office. I was reading KSHB 41’s website and noticed you are coming under fire for your Facebook page.
According to the article you said, “I don’t think I would ever put anything on there that was intentionally offensive to anyone,” he said.
Read more: http://www.kshb.com/dpp/news/political/newly-elected-kansas-politician-possibly-violating-facebook-rules-over-posts-about-the-president#ixzz2Bikmt5W4
Like any concerned citizen would do, I went ahead and checked out your Facebook page. To me, like our glorious American system lays out, you are innocent until proven guilty in this country.
https://www.facebook.com/john.bradford.752
After a quick browse and I have a few observations. I get that our politics don’t match. No biggie here. I’m all about building bridges now that the election is over. This isn’t a Democrat vs. Republican thing just some constructive criticism so please take it as it is intended. You said nothing was “intentional” by the Facebook posts so I feel there are some lessons to learn so next time you don’t make these same mistakes.
Here are my suggestions:
First, you posted a Youtube video titled “How to Kill 11 Million People”
I watched the whole video. It starts with some disturbing video of the Holocaust. It is narrated by a sweet, young child’s voice equating Nazi Germany and the mass genocide of 11 million people with not balancing the US budget. Like I stated before, I’m no PR expert, but people can be a bit sensitive when it comes to equating mass genocide and not balancing our American budget. If you ask me, it’s a bit of a reach. I am happy to include myself in the insulted category. I’ll just sum this up as a “teachable moment”. No problem. Everyone has to learn sometime.
Second, scrolling down I find another article about Nazis. Summing this article up, FEMA hired and trained a group of people. The age range of the people trained is 18-24. This article from a source called “Before It’s News” equates this new group of FEMA graduates with Hitler Youth.
Rep. Bradford, just between you and me, let me offer up another “teachable moment” - Nazi Germany and the Holocaust was a horrible time in history. People take offense to it. There is also a delete button on your Facebook page so you can actually delete posts. Once someone educates you that mass genocide can be offensive, you can actually delete offensive posts.
I know..right…it’s amazing.
It took me a while to figure that out as well. It’s that little tiny x at the top right of the box. I wasn’t posting Holocaust stuff, more like Honey Boo Boo jokes that weren’t really funny, but I have hit the delete button more than once in my life. Don’t even get me started on all the silly stuff I’ve put out on Twitter.
Finally there a picture of a guy pointing and firing an automatic weapon. The caption is “Attitude - it takes 43 muscles to frown, 17 to smile and 3 to proper trigger squeeze.”
Seriously? I’ll just recognize this as a difference of opinion on gun control. Just remember, the nation has been healing from mass shootings made easier with weapons like these. Right or wrong people also can be a bit uptight about “funny” pics like these as well. You might want to check with the people of CO or AZ on this one to be sure.
I hope you have found this little Facebook 101 sensitivity training helpful. Remember, no Nazi jokes, no genocide jokes and no mass shooting jokes and you should be fine. I’ll be sure to remember to stay away from Honey Boo Boo jokes just to be safe.
I’ll leave you with this catchy phrase I just made up to it’s easy for you to remember what is appropriate to post on Facebook and what isn’t. Sometimes I use rhyming phrases to make it easier for my 6 year-old to remember things..”If you don’t want to take the political heat, just remember to hit delete.”
Your new Facebook “friend”,
Aimee
Mark Hastert
6 months, 1 week agoState legislatures are the best case for federalism.
I have lived in Leavenworth county for 20 years, and in the last three weeks there have been more articles in the local media about politics in Leavenworth county than in the preceding 20 years combined. Want to tell us what is going on? Sincerely, Respectfully and In Christ, Ernest Evans