I don’t have a personal facebook account, because I feel about it (and most social networks, reddit, 4chan, etc.) the way Obi-Wan Kenobi feels about Mos Eisley.
Early in my ownership of the Cider Mill I had decided that I was not going offer political opinions or endorsements. It followed from a number of different experiences, but mostly because of my understanding that the Cider Mill represents everyone that works here and the vast community of people who feel “ownership” over this long-term, beloved, small-town institution. I alone, am not the Cider Mill. The staff here represent the full continuum of political and moral beliefs, from libertarian, republican, democratic, socialist, apolitical, and everything in between. I’m not going to put out political views or endorsements via the Cider Mill, because it surely would not reflect the views of all or even most of the people who make up the Cider Mill. Both during the 2018 election cycle and the 2020, I’ve had a large number of primary and general election candidates come speak to me, both in a speaking to their constituents sense and in seeking the endorsement of a small business owner. I am always thrilled to speak about the issues facing my community and business, as I am a passionately engaged, vocal, and politically active community member. However, I’ve been consistent in my position that the Cider Mill not be included as a part of any campaign, and every candidate and sitting politician that I’ve spoken with has respected that position. That includes candidates that I’ve known for years and are personal friends, it also includes candidates that have asked to have campaign events here.
On a recent weekend a staff member came in to work and said, “Did you know [Random Political Candidate] put us on her campaign page?” I did not. I went through the rigmarole of going on facebook, instead of the work I needed to do, to see what they were talking about, sure enough there we are in the midst of exclusively campaign related posts and endorsements.
I (as the Cider Mill) wrote a comment on that post and went back to work. Between presses I went back to see if they have responded. I did it on my phone which does not have the facebook app and is not signed in, as I don’t have a personal page. I can see and read all the comments, but my own. They’ve hidden my comment, so I sign in on my computer to see if they’ve sent a message. They have not. Now I’m pissed. No one from the campaign has ever spoken to me nor identified themselves when they were here and taking pictures. Now they recognize their actions as problematic (otherwise they wouldn’t have hidden my comment) but still have not attempted to contact me or the Cider Mill. I wrote a facebook post calling the campaign out and why I called them out, including my desire to have the Cider Mill not express views that do not represent the whole of the “Cider Mill.” I also took a screen-grab of their post, with my hidden comment, over-written with the words “Hollenbeck’s Cider Mill is against [Random Political Candidate].” Needless to say the campaign unhid my comment and went on damage control, and the internet community started screaming at each other.
A brief aside to give a sense of personal context/reference. In college I played varsity lacrosse and club hockey, both teams were bad. During the late-fall or early-winter of my sophomore year the assistant coach of the lacrosse team gave me some hints that the head coach was going to tell me that I needed to prioritize lacrosse and quit the hockey team (of which I was club president and starting goalie). I had never missed a lacrosse obligation for hockey, and only hockey games trumped optional lacrosse activities. Sure enough the coach asked me to his office to have a talk about “my priorities.” When I arrived, I explained I had never had to choose between those two sports that I loved, and if one forced the choice, it would not be the one I chose. I continued to play both for my entire college career.
I felt as though this campaign had decided to publicly assign a political position to the Cider Mill even though I had explicitly decided not to. Every other campaign had respected and honored my decision, this one did not even have the respect to ask. “If one forced the choice, it would not be the one I chose.”
I feel strongly in the inherent correctness of calling them out, and of the body of the post. I also feel strongly that I made a mistake in the text over the screen-grab. Had I to do it over, I would put “Hollenbeck’s Cider Mill endorses no political candidates”, as that is a truer expression of my (and our) stance, is less inflammatory (though based on reading comments, I doubt any fewer people would actually be inflamed), and keeps it politically neutral. But being the person I am, with a touch of a temper and a strong sense of spite, I did not do that, and regret it. I regret both acting in passionate haste, and the particular wording as I don’t think it follows my desire to keep the Cider Mill’s statements apolitical. I also believe that editing or removing that post would be dishonest, so it lives on as it was born.
The post is an awesome Rorschach test, as it is clear that each comment-er sees what they want based on their own personal biases. Everyone is passionate in their belief that I am wrong, absolutely correct, the devil, a hero, that I am showing my biases as clearly a [insert their assumption], that they are going to never come back or redouble their purchases here. Time has passed, comments have slowed, business is Covid-normal, at least one person that was never coming back has ordered, bought, and paid for pies, and I’m sure some of my “supporters” will never come. Everyone scheduled, the libertarians, the socialists, the non-voters, the pastor, everyone came and worked their shifts as though nothing happened, because outside of facebook nothing happened.
In reading a lot (though not all, I’ve got a lot of work to do) of the comments, it’s impressive how near universally wrong people are in their assumptions of my political values. When the candidate in question stopped by (again not identifying themselves in anyway, but distinguished themselves by their actions), asked the person helping them if the owner was a Democrat or a Republican. The teenager could not answer the question as they didn’t know. The answer is neither! I don’t find my values well represented on the national stage in our wildly unrepresentative two party system. Though in local politics I regularly get to enthusiastically vote for people I know fully share the values of community, honesty, openness, and thriftiness. In the 2018 election cycle, the Cortland County Republicans, Democrats, and Libertarians all asked me for donations of products for events. I gave them all the same deal, because most important to me is honest and earnest civic engagement.
If you want everyone to be the same party as you, have the same political beliefs as you, and vote for the same candidates as you, you should consider living under a totalitarian regime.
If you want to know my values and political opinions, ask me, because your assumptions are wrong.
If you want to know how I vote, it’s holding my nose.
