“Yet the best determining factor of how comfortable we are with ourselves, is our ability to laugh at ourselves.” ― Wes Adamson
Yesterday, on Feb. 1, a satirical Facebook page dubbed “Lafayette City Government” offered a timely salutation: “Happy first day of #BlackHistoryMonth, Lafayette! Or as many of our residents like to call it, National ‘When is white history month?!?!’ Day! #Pride #Culture”
An earlier post was weather related: “#WeatherWarning! Scattered showers are expected across most of Lafayette tomorrow. So don’t be a d**k, and try to keep your jacked-up F150 at or under the speed limit. Also your Salt Life vinyl sucks. Stay safe out there, y’all! #LeauxcalWeather #StaySafeLafayette”
Wait, what? Is that to say there are racists and over-compensating rednecks in Lafayette? In Lafayette? A parish that overwhelmingly elected President Coochie Clutcher last year? Perish the thought!
The Facebook page’s “about” section is decidedly more caustic: “Just the best party. Lafayette, Louisiana is your destination for self-loathing, unemployment and hipster Cajun culture. Not associated with Lafayette Consolidated Government, they can’t even run a city right!”
Ouch! Or, as we like to say here in Lafayette, Eye-y’yie!
We’re not sure who is behind Lafayette City Government, but they’ve clearly struck a nerve. On Wednesday, LCG wiped away its tears and issued a press release indicating that local government is trying to get the fake local government page shut down. (At this writing, Lafayette City Government on Facebook is still a thing.):
LCG neither condones nor has any involvement with the activity associated with this page, including posts made on the page or comments made from the account on other Facebook pages. LCG representatives have sent reports to Facebook and will continue to take action to have the account removed.
Those who find the content or comments from the imposter page are encouraged to report the page to Facebook, block the page and hide and/or delete comments from Facebook threads. Citizens who unknowingly liked the imposter page are encouraged to unlike the page. Facebook users are generally discouraged from engaging with or retaliating against imposter pages.
LCG also made sure — pettily, if you ask me — to note that the Lafayette City Government Facebook page “has garnered less than 200 likes in approximately a three week period.” Because everyone knows that in this age of social media, likes and shares are the true arbiters of worth.
Seriously, folks, we love to call ourselves a “cool town” and the “happiest city in America,” but we have our blemishes. Relative to other municipalities, local government IMO runs a relatively tight ship. But if it takes a satirical Facebook page to get us to confront our shortcomings, is that really a bad thing we should banish from the public square?
Hearteningly, reviews of the page have been generally positive: “I wish Lafayette government was half as cool as this page,” writes one. Adds another: “This page has all the best Lafayette government news. All the greatest posts. They’re comments are so good. This page is gonna be yuge!”