Opinion Piece: The Ethics of Public Officials Blocking Citizens


Opinion Piece: The Ethics of Public Officials Blocking Citizens
By: Pierce
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Tensions have been rising recently over the debate over the constitutional reforms between pro-reform Senators Kari and Prim and the conservative/”moderate” bloc’s de facto leader former Senator Olde Delaware. Some of the debate has led to unpleasant exchanges between the three, which led the two Senators to block Olde Delaware on Discord. Some citizens have expressed concern over the idea of Senators being able to block citizens that they represent to the Senate, and leads one to question whether it is ethical for Senators to do so if the individual blocked has been repeatedly unpleasant to them.

As highlighted by the opinion piece by Punchwood, it is no secret that Olde Delaware has a tendency to be abrasive and temperamental when it comes to interactions of debate to the point of toxicity in the eyes of some. I cannot speak for Senators Kari and Prim on what the straw was that broke the camel’s back, but much of what has been discussed regarding Olde Delaware’s behavior reminds me of many of my interactions with Vac Mercer, a former Senator and Minister of Communications here in Europeia, and my former superior in another region. Though he is not nearly as awful as the comparison, it forces me to reflect on what I would do if faced with such constant toxicity and harassment (if the two Senators have felt that way).

There is an argument to be made, however, that it is unethical for public officials to block any citizen. Whether a citizen voted for or against the sitting Senators, the citizen should have the right to be able to contact their elected representatives through any available medium, and be able to see all public statements (whether on the forums or through Euro’s Discord server) made in order to be informed on their representative’s actions and statements. While there is no explicit statute that prevents Senators from blocking citizens, one could loosely argue that it undermines the citizens’ right “to freely express and disseminate their opinion in any manner or medium” (Charter of Rights, 2). If there are Senators that feel that a citizen is constantly harassing them per provision 20 of the Criminal Code, then they should file suit or refer the matter to the Ministry of Justice to use our under-utilized courts.

The good Senators who campaigned and were elected upon reform do represent reform, but as representatives of the citizens, they have the duty and burden to at least be able to listen to the concerns of all of their citizens. If at the point certain citizens no longer meaningfully add to the discussion, then they should either work the issue out with the individual, listen with thicker skin and move on, or if all else fails, consider legal action if applicable. For any public official to block a citizen who cares about the issues facing the region is an injustice to their office and to the principles of Europeia as a political region and open forum of ideas. I have high respect for Senator Prim and Senator Kari for their work in the Senate and their fierce advocacy for the reform that our Republic needs to survive; but to block a citizen before exhausting all other alternatives and shutting down a voice (who also cares for the region) that disagrees with them leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.


“I don’t agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

-Evelyn Beatrice Hall​
 
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As someone who was widely criticized, and justly so, for a hostile response to a citizen's (ironically, Kari's) aggressive comments about my presidential campaign, I'm in full agreement that the senators' blocking of a citizen on Discord is unacceptable. I believe I was told something along the lines of "if you can't handle the heat, get out of politics" and I would suggest some people consider taking their own advice.
 
I was not aware of this occurrence and am slightly disappointed by the knowledge this happened. I think the act of blocking a citizen is too far when simply ignoring them or not engaging them would suffice to diffuse what became an wholly unnecessary personal argument.
 
Communication was always important and essential with senators and citizens, but in the time of reform it's even more crucial since the Europeia we have today may not be the Europeia we have in a year.

That being said, I think the Senators also have that right to block someone, only you are totally correct in that they shouldn't have done so so soon. I also think blocks are okay if temporary as it can give the person some time to calm down. If the blocks are up a week later, then that's different imo.

Edit: In case it's not clear, I do agree it's not the best for senators to block citizens unless it's legit circumstances with multiple incidences occuring. After reading what Prim says below and that this has gone on since EfR, yeah i probably would have blocked OD too.
 
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I plan to keep OD blocked on discord. I intend to use discord for social conversation only. I do not have him blocked on the forum, he can contact me on the forum if he wishes, though I am under no obligation to respond to him.

This is not the only incident with OD, it is the latest in a series of incidents wherein he has consistently harassed and slandered me. I do not wish to converse socially with someone like that. Feel free to disapprove but I will not be unblocking OD on discord.
 
I would be really hesitant to compare folks' actions to those who have been banned for administrative reasons.

Personally, I think blocking people on the forums should be a bit of a red line. But I also believe that would be something for the voters to decide, not something that should be codified.
 
Prim said:
I do not have him blocked on the forum, he can contact me on the forum if he wishes, though I am under no obligation to respond to him.
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You're under no obligation to respond to your constituent about a legitimate concern? I vehemently disagree.
 
I have very few people blocked on Discord, but I think only one or two people who were in Europeia. Considering all they've ever done to me is harass and troll me, I'm not unblocking them. I interacted with them on the forums, which is fine.
 
Prim said:
I plan to keep OD blocked on discord. I intend to use discord for social conversation only. I do not have him blocked on the forum, he can contact me on the forum if he wishes, though I am under no obligation to respond to him.

This is not the only incident with OD, it is the latest in a series of incidents wherein he has consistently harassed and slandered me. I do not wish to converse socially with someone like that. Feel free to disapprove but I will not be unblocking OD on discord.
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I never harassed or slandered you dude. You are angry because I wouldn't tell you who gave me info from the EfR which turned out to be wrong and I apologized to you multiple times for it. If you feel I have truly harassed you then by all means report me to the Admins for it, but don't lie about it.
 
Olde Delaware said:
I never harassed or slandered you dude. You are angry because I wouldn't tell you who gave me info from the EfR which turned out to be wrong and I apologized to you multiple times for it. If you feel I have truly harassed you then by all means report me to the Admins for it, but don't lie about it.
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Sopo was aware of the situation at the time. I'm not lying about anything OD. You have, on multiple occasions, slandered me by making absurd and baseless claims that either turn out to be false or you twist your original words when someone called you out on it. I don't intend to continue socializing with you in the future.

This is a still just a computer game, for all intents and purposes, and I don't intend to be forced to interact with someone who has treated me like shit. That's not why I am in Europeia. If I don't want to deal with OD's endless bullshit, I'm blocking him and moving on with my life, end of story.
 
Prim said:
Sopo was aware of the situation at the time. I'm not lying about anything OD. You have, on multiple occasions, slandered me by making absurd and baseless claims that either turn out to be false or you twist your original words when someone called you out on it. I don't intend to continue socializing with you in the future.

This is a still just a computer game, for all intents and purposes, and I don't intend to be forced to interact with someone who has treated me like shit. That's not why I am in Europeia. If I don't want to deal with OD's endless bullshit, I'm blocking him and moving on with my life, end of story.
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Exactly where and when have I done any of these things dude, you keep saying it but you're not backing it up with any facts. I know if it were me being treated like this, I would have gone to the Admins about it by now.
 
Olde Delaware said:
Exactly where and when have I done any of these things dude, you keep saying it but you're not backing it up with any facts. I know if it were me being treated like this, I would have gone to the Admins about it by now.
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OD, I literally went to Sopo and HEM back in September about your EfR claims. You made those claims in discord DMs on 09/07.

Your next claim was that I was approaching people and lying about your campaign --
Ghost of Olde Delaware Today at 21:13
From what I understand from a good source Prim keeps approaching people telling them I'm totally against reform even though that's not even remotely close.


Tired D 10/16/2018

Someone coming to me in a message on discord asking me if what Prim said was true and then coming back and saying that they were told that I was a liar.
Is now a big deal
fucking Lol
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I spoke to no one in private during your campaign, and I continued to state my opinion that you were against reform in public threads. I still believe that.
You posted this claim that supposedly someone came to you and told you that I called you a liar. That cannot possibly be true, I spoke to no one about your campaign in private, all of my statements regarding your campaign were in public threads.
 
This is a strong piece Pierce. I like it. If I may add some of my opinions to the discussion I would like to.

I believe under very little circumstances should a sitting senator block a citizen for many things, reasons to block may include a list found it what would constitute an administrative ban imo.

With that being said I would attempt to work it out and show maturity and professionalism in the name of the office if not ones own honor. blocking somebody for (treating them like shit) while makes sense does give vibes off that you only care about certain citizens problems and suppress the others. while HEM has mentioned not to compare I must mention that it brings up images of the Trump vs Media outlets that he finds offensive to himself although I am sure they paint him in a bad light. (facts excluded to not show bias)

I personally feel that this situation has been too extraneous and needs to be resolved by talking and communicating rather than arguing. It makes one look quite immature to just block and "If you don't like it while then leave" (which I do believe I was told that myself in my baby days here at euro. If I would be considered a toddler of Euro at this point) It's trashy, its immature, its rude and I also believe it's the root of why Euro is struggling to get out of the downwind tailspin we all argue about
 
Prim said:
OD, I literally went to Sopo and HEM back in September about your EfR claims. You made those claims in discord DMs on 09/07.

Your next claim was that I was approaching people and lying about your campaign --

I spoke to no one in private during your campaign, and I continued to state my opinion that you were against reform. I still believe that.
You posted this claim that supposedly someone came to you and told you that I called you a liar. That cannot possibly be true, I spoke to no one about your campaign in private, all of my statements regarding your campaign were in public threads.
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Prim, I told you multiple times that same night that I believed you. I believed you, I believed Sopo, and I believed the person who told me what they told me. Because I believed all three of you and because I didn't want to call anyone a liar, I let the issue go. You wouldn't let it go, even after I told you multiple times. You blocked me after that, which was your prerogative. When I found out my source misspoke, I immediately sent you a PM about it to let you know they were wrong and I was wrong. You chose to keep me blocked until we talked 3 days later, again, that's your prerogative.

You did however approach people via the Polling Booth and tell them I was anti-reform which wasn't true, I had to go in there after you and correct it which caused Admins to tell us both to cool it. I received a message via discord from someone telling me you were going into the polling booth and making such statements. How they worded it was you were approaching people which is exactly how I worded it back. I made an apology regarding that fact I think a day later via Discord that I misspoke and that I meant I got a message from someone that you were approaching via the Polling Booth, not via PMs. Whether you saw that or not, I don't know. So for the second time, I misspoke and I apologize heartily for my mistake and I take full responsibility for doing so.

Other than these two specific incidents which again, I've made multiple efforts to try to clear up, you continue to accuse me of harassing you, which I haven't and slandering you, which I haven't. So I'm not sure where you're trying to go with all of this? I didn't ask for this article. All I've said about this is that you need to let things go, I still think you do need to do that, but that's completely up to you when and if you do so. I've said my peace and I've done what is reasonable expected of me, I've apologized to you, multiple times now over both of these incidents and you have decided on your own to act in a way you feel you need to act.

Other than that, I'm not sure what you want from me here.
 
Olde Delaware said:
Other than these two specific incidents which again, I've made multiple efforts to try to clear up, you continue to accuse me of harassing you, which I haven't and slandering you, which I haven't. So I'm not sure where you're trying to go with all of this? I didn't ask for this article. All I've said about this is that you need to let things go, I still think you do need to do that, but that's completely up to you when and if you do so. I've said my peace and I've done what is reasonable expected of me, I've apologized to you, multiple times now over both of these incidents and you have decided on your own to act in a way you feel you need to act.

Other than that, I'm not sure what you want from me here.
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For a while, I want not to socialize with you in discord. I don't want to be wondering when the next time you'll fly off the handle and start accusing me of some weird BS is.

I'm somehow supposed to just be all gracious and forgive and forget when you blow up and make false claims about me, then figure out that you were wrong or misunderstood, and then apologize... Nah, I'm done with the roller coaster of OD emotions and wondering when the next time you'll blow up is --
 
Prim said:
For a while, I want not to socialize with you in discord. I don't want to be wondering when the next time you'll fly off the handle and start accusing me of some weird BS is.

I'm somehow supposed to just be all gracious and forgive and forget when you blow up and make false claims about me, then figure out that you were wrong or misunderstood, and then apologize... Nah, I'm done with the roller coaster of OD emotions and wondering when the next time you'll blow up is --
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If you don't want to socialize with me via Discord Prim, again, that's entirely up to you. If you want to socialize with me a little, when you are comfortable doing so, again, that's also entirely up to you. If you wanna unblock me right this minute and let it go, again, that's entirely up to you. If you never do, that's not my decision to make and something I have to accept. I've owned up to both mistakes, to you both publicly and privately, the latter as well as I can considering our current situation. That's good enough for some people, obviously it isn't good enough for you and that's perfectly fine. The only thing I have asked you to do was to let it go, you won't and again, that's your prerogative and that's perfectly fine.

As I have told you before privately and will repeat here publicly, I really valued your friendship and I will miss your kindness, your smarts and most of all your good humor and I wish you and most importantly your family all the best. You've been helpful while I deal with my mom's issues and I am forever grateful. There's only two things I ask, one is that if I come to you as your constituent that you at least hear me out and answer my concerns and secondly to stop telling people I am harassing you. If you honestly feel I am continuing to harassing you, make a formal complaint with the Admins.

Otherwise, please stop claiming that I am harassing you.
 
As long as you're not blocking people on every platform so it's entirely impossible to interact with someone -- our Government functions largely on the forums and the social aspects happen on Discord. For people who have one account and use their Discord for multiple things -- multiple games and communities -- they should be able to block someone if they don't want to interact with them. I have no qualms with blocking or being blocked on Discord. I can take my concerns to them via DM, TG, or make a forum post. If they continue to ignore me there... well, I'd raise holy hell about it. But, on Discord... let people feel comfortable on their own time. It's no different than when we had people blocking each-other on MSN or Skype. For as much as we push that "government business should happen on the Forums!!!!" ...

It's different than, say, having a discord account solely attached to your office as a Senator or Minister. It's your personal Discord account -- it's your internet persona. If someone is making you feel uncomfortable, harassed, or you just need some time to not interact with them that's fine. And, frankly healthy. There are times where I wish some of us would just block each-other for a day or so, shut the fuck up, get over things, and then move on.

If you feel a public official is going out of their way to ignore you, specifically, or their questions, there are a myriad of ways to publicly call them into account. Given that the majority of conversations we have about our politics on Discord are mostly electoral baby kissing, it's not like it's going to be a real issue -- and if it is, kick them out of office lol.

I dunno, I don't think this is a real issue that we should be concerned about.
 
OD - you've got to be ok with Prim not wanting to talk to you for a while. It can't be this big thing that gets relitigated. No matter who is right and who is wrong, that's his right.

I don't mind when things get hot in the kitchen, I actually rather like it, but these fights seem rather personal and I don't think they should continue here to be honest.
 
HEM said:
OD - you've got to be ok with Prim not wanting to talk to you for a while. It can't be this big thing that gets relitigated. No matter who is right and who is wrong, that's his right.

I don't mind when things get hot in the kitchen, I actually rather like it, but these fights seem rather personal and I don't think they should continue here to be honest.
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I didn't ask for this article...what Prim does is up to Prim.
 
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