#rutvt

(From the Rutland Herald, 6/18/16)

This week I’m discussing Rutland Welcomes, the Facebook group and ad hoc welcome committee that has sprung up in the immediate wake of Mayor Christopher Louras’ announcement that Rutland City would welcome 100 Syrian and Iraqi refugees beginning this fall. The group describes itself as “a group of like-minded individuals who wish to create a warm, safe, inviting atmosphere for the refugees arriving to Rutland.” With that mission statement in mind, activity within the group is focused on sharing information about the current migrant crisis and working toward welcoming Rutland’s new refugee population. Unlike other Facebook groups I’ve profiled, Rutland Welcomes is a closed group. That means people must request to be added and nonmembers are unable to see what is posted. There was some discussion about going public, but members argued that if the group was intended to be organizational (and populated by people already on board with resettlement), then it made little sense to invite the distraction of public comment. Some might argue this decision unfairly shut down debate within the group, however, the group has clearly stated its goals and is under no obligation to be anything other than what it is. Full disclosure: I am a member of this Rutland Welcomes. Without solicitation, I was added shortly after its creation. While my affiliation complicates my analysis of the group’s social media presence, I have made every effort to be fair and unbiased. The information presented below was arrived at via the same process as my two previous columns about Facebook groups and pages in opposition to refugee resettlement. I examined links and sources with the same level of scrutiny. I read posts and comments with the same eye for offensive rhetoric.

Group: Rutland Welcomes

Members (as of 6/16/16): 1,214

Sample posts

Discussion about refugees is positive, compassionate and centered around the humanitarian imperative of providing aid. Posts include people sharing experiences and thoughts on the issue, offering services and looking to volunteer.

Most of the content shared falls into the human interest category. There’s isn’t too much in the way of hard news. This is likely because the group appears to be largely satisfied with the information Louras and the Vermont Resettlement Program have provided. A link to the Migration Policy Institute offers some recent statistics on U.S. immigration numbers (bit.ly/mpi-stats).

There are many posts about organizing — the group has a distinctly grassroots feel — with reminders of various meetings people might want to attend and invitations to related or semi-related community events and activities.

There are also a number of videos illustrating the situation in Syria and the refugee struggle. One is an interview with a Syrian woman whose disabled husband drowned while attempting to cross into Greece. Another shows a gathering of Muslims in New York City praying in solidarity for victims of the Orlando mass shooting. An especially affecting one is of two brothers mourning the death of their younger brother who was caught in a bomb blast in their Aleppo neighborhood (bit.ly/channel4-vid).

Sample sources

BBC: The British Broadcasting Corp. is a publicly funded news service with bureaus around the world. Despite that funding, the BBC operates independent of the British government. It’s the world’s oldest national broadcasting organization, and currently the largest broadcast news service on Earth. Over the years, British conservatives have accused the BBC of having a liberal bias.

“Channel 4 News”: The U.K.’s highest-rated and award-winning news program airing daily on Channel 4, an independent, publicly funded TV network.

Migration Policy Institute: A self-professed “independent, nonpartisan” think tank that studies immigration around the world. Donors include: the Ford Foundation, United Nations, U.S. Census Bureau, Rockefeller Foundation, Booz Allen Hamilton. The Annenberg Institute for Civics upholds MPI’s nonpartisan cred, writing, “the institute is an excellent source for impartial, well-researched data on immigration. It gives a realistic portrayal of U.S. and international immigration without advocating a particular position.

”Huffington Post: A left-leaning online media organization and news aggregator founded by Arianna Huffington. Initially positioned as a counterbalance of sorts to the conservative news aggregator Drudge Report, the organization has a proclivity for clickbait headlines, knee-jerk liberal outrage think pieces and an army of dubiously qualified bloggers.

Occupy Democrats: An advocacy group founded in 2012 in response to the Tea Party movement, the group is careful to avoid using the words “news” in its description, calling itself “a political organization and information website.” Fact-checking website PolitiFact gives OD consistently low marks. For what it’s worth, the only OD post I found was about a viral Facebook post by a Muslim man in Orlando who wrote about his decision to give blood after the shooting Sunday (bit.ly/od-donor).

Additional sources: Scientific American, UpWorthy (uplifting viral video site), The Daily Beast (moderate-to-left-of-center online news site), The Economist, NPR, PBS, Rutland Herald, WCAX, VT Digger.

Those hoping for me to expose hypocrisy and intolerance within the Rutland Welcomes group are likely disappointed. I did find several posts, which attempted to grapple with the thinking of those who oppose resettlement. The tone in these posts was mostly respectful, and when it did stray into something a bit less kind or judgmental, people were quick to nudge fellow members back on track.“Being a closed group doesn’t give permission to say what we like,” one member wrote. “I’m not interested in participating in this type of discussion. Let’s focus on what information is needed and look for credible ways to share, which is what the post (being commented on) was intended to do. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.”

Otherwise, much of this discussion about the opposition is about how some of their more extreme rhetoric might damage Rutland’s reputation for potential new residents, such as young professionals or anyone else who might consider moving to the community.