Satire vs Hoax

Ken O’Brien

Satire: the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues

Hoax: something intended to deceive or defraud

As a way of educating my obviously ignorant (and perhaps deceitful) detractors regarding the recent issue I have raised regarding the activities of Town Councilor Kristen Auclair, I reprint an article written by Matt Rock on Newsvine on May 27, 2014.

Satire is not meant to be a "hoax" (an open letter to the team at IFL Science)

As some of you may know, I used to be a frequent writer here at Newsvine, probably best known for writing political satire.  That satire was deemed good enough for someone to hire me and steal me away in 2011.  If you don't know who I am, well, now you do.  And with that introduction out of the way, let's get to the content at hand. 

Was Councilor AuClair Involved In A Fundraising Scam?

Ken O’Brien

In a previous post I addressed whether Southbridge Town Councilor Kristen AuClair had misled voters about her role in denying the historical evidence on the existence of dinosaurs.

During her campaign for her current seat on the Council she claimed that her comments on the matter were little more than satire.

As another blogger has noted, “Sadly, I think they actually believe what they’re saying, although we may never know for sure. Between their Facebook page, Twitter feed and Youtube channel, they seem dumbfoundingly earnest. And would anyone put this much effort into their website if they didn’t really mean it?”

Whether or not Councilor AuClair was pursuing an earnest belief or was in fact engaged with others in a high level piece of performance art, one of her group’s efforts, in which she was involved, raises serious concerns. 

Satire Or Smokescreen? Councilor AuClair and Dinosaurs

Ken O’Brien

Back during the recent campaign for town council a story emerged about then candidate Kristen AuClair.

According to this story, Ms. AuClair had maintained that dinosaurs did not exist.

Seeking the truth to this matter, I posed the question to her to which she responded that what people were referring to were merely satirical pieces.

Recently, however, a commenter referred me to a number of videos posted on YouTube.

These do not appear to be works of satire, but a reflection of strongly held beliefs. 

Auclair Speaks Out On Casella Amendment

Kristen Auclair

I am writing to the members of the Town Council as I will not be in attendance at Monday night’s meeting. 

I am writing about the final agenda item, item 34, the motion to accept the first amendment to the Casella contract.  In subcommittee there were a lot of agreed upon terms to include in the contract, and I’m confident that a lot will be added without any outside input.  However, I implore you all to take the following into consideration when voting on this item.

1.      The money allotted to the proposed pre-treatment facility:  How is this money being utilized?  What kind of facility will $2.5 million build?  Where are the designs that constitute this money and how do we know that more money will not actually be needed to complete this venture?  To my knowledge, no preliminary engineering plans have been presented to represent this estimate.  There needs to be some kind of justification for this specific amount. 

Raise Taxes Or Increase Debt?

Ken O’Brien

At tonight’s meeting the Town Council took up the capital budget. This is a long needed as well as long neglected element of the town’s finances. Its very size is an indication of the extent to which the town has neglected its capital stock.

During the discussion of this matter the Council sidetracked once again into a discussion of its prior decision not to raise taxes.

That discussion centered on whether or not it was wise to incur additional debt obligations. It was estimated that doing so would increase the cost of these projects by an additional $240,000 over the ten year life of the bond. Councilor Steeves argued that it made no sense whatsoever to finance the cost of these projects through debt when it could be done through taxation within the levy limit without the associated interest cost.