Social Media Post Calling Out Gubernatorial Politics Gets Tons Of Pushback – Makes Point Of Post

Recently, Governor Stitt made this ‘bobcat’ post on his socials.

It totally irritated me, so I made the following response and then posted it to ROPE’s Facebook page:

We have a small farm and have had to give countless predators a ‘dirt nap’ because they were killing our livestock. When we do it, we don’t post about it on social media – partly because people are insane and I don’t want to get reported by the PETA peeps – but also because I DON’T LIKE KILLING THINGS. I mean, we raise sheep – for meat and sale – and I hate it when we have to take them to the butcher. It usually makes me feel gross all day. I just don’t like killing things as a rule – even if I’m going to eat them afterward, or if I’m saving my livestock.

I actually like this about me – after nearly a decade of processing chickens and turkeys and taking sheep to the butcher – I still believe every life is important. I’ve not gotten ‘numb’ to death. It still stings. I still remember that even the racoon that ate the heads off 3 of my chickens was made by God just like me.

So there’s that, although that wasn’t the actual reason behind the post.

Immediately, the post blew up with comments about how I was a Karen, or a crybaby, or about how it was well within the Governor’s right to shoot a bobcat on his property whether it was eating his animals or not.

Here are a few selected responses so you can fully digest their flavor.

Look, I’m big girl. I’ve been in this game a long time. I believe in free speech. Everyone who wanted to comment about what an idiot I am got to say their piece without me censoring them in any way. And maybe I did get a bit strident in my response – I certainly don’t think everything I say, or post, or write is the best thing ever all the time. After a 20 year writing career, I’ve CERTAINLY had my duds.

It’s no secret that I’m no fan of Governor Stitt, but trust me when I say I don’t relish this position.

I would LOVE to be able to back the REPUBLICANS I VOTE FOR, but with the glaring exception of former Labor Commissioner Mark Costello whom I 100% respected and thought the world of, I’ve NEVER voted for a Republican who didn’t let me down in some huge way. In fact, that’s why I started ROPE in 2008 in the first place – to try and keep our elected officials on course by pointing out their departures from Republican ideals. I’m used to getting the cold shoulder from legislators and Party officials, or reamed a new one by all measure of commenters on social media – I’m neither a Karen nor a snowflake or I would have quit for good LONG AGO.

My choice to call out the Governor in this post wasn’t about the bobcat – it was about the DISTRACTION the post was meant to be.

After a few hours of watching the commenters pile on, I added the following update to the post:

– Thank you so much for all your comments on the post. For those asking what this has to do with Parental Empowerment – we’ve been posting ALL kinds of information here and on our podcast for nearly two years. Maybe a follow would bring some clarity on that issue.

Disagreement can be instructive and we’re all about free speech here – but our Governor’s post is a distraction from all the problems we have in this state that aren’t being dealt with by his office – and that’s the point of the post. There are plenty of us who have disposed of LIVESTOCK-EATING predators without posting them on social media. Our Governor’s media people know that posts about hunting or sports are nearly universally loved – and defended – by Oklahomans and, hence, a great distraction. It’s important to point out these distractions and attempt to put the focus back on the issues at stake. And that’s what we’ll do here every single time we can. So, agree or disagree, that’s the bottom line.

Our governor has absolutely sat out the fight to have DHS investigated, though he could have called for an investigation himself. Same with the Turnpike Authority which is costing Oklahomans millions and millions of dollars while they continue to ratchet up their tolls.

I could go on with examples of how obvious government malfeasance is simply overlooked by our Governor and his office, but I’ll stop there and end on this; we have the right and the responsibility as ‘the people’ of this state – not to mention taxpayers – to expect our elected officials to do the right thing and to call them out publicly when they don’t. You may not like the way someone does it (ie me), but if we’re going to allow ourselves to be easily distracted by public statements from our officials about hunting, or sports teams, or attracting business and increasing our workforce, that we don’t see how we’re being manipulated to look the other way, our government will NEVER work for us.

And that was the whole point of the post in the first place.