City
Occupy Says Vet Activist was Not Banned for Political POV
Occupy Seattle issued a statement on this morning's Fizz item about local activist Dorsol Plants, who told us he was banned from an Occupy Seattle Facebook page for suggesting that the group start thinking about running candidates---in other words, occupying public office.
I just spoke with Sean Wiggs, an administrator for the Facebook page (and a copywriter by day). Wiggs says Plants was not banned for his political point of view ("there are no political requirements for joining the page," Wiggs says, "you can be a Republican" ), but says that shortly after Plants joined the online discussion, the administrators got several complaints from women about "safety." Wiggs would not elaborate, simply saying that the women did not want Plants to be able to contact them online.
Wiggs says he is Plants' former roommate and they are "not on good terms, so "I recused myself from the matter." There are about 35 administrators for the page, Wiggs says, and other administrators dealt with the matter. The page—a secondary "think tank sort of page for Occupy activists," as opposed to their main page—has slightly more than 1,100 members. (The main page has more than 27,000 likes.)
The community took a vote and they decided to ban Plants from the discussion, Wiggs says.
Regarding the insinuation that he has a controversial past, Plants, who says he's been in a relationship for the majority of his time in Seattle, tells PubliCola, "I worked with [the Seattle Police Department] as a [domestic violence] Victim Support Team member, so I find the implication highly offensive .... [I] had to do full criminal background [check] and drug test. I also had to [do] a background [check] while I was in the Army as I had a secret clearance that goes back seven years."
He adds: "All I can say, was no one mentioned any women being uncomfortable with me until I read those comments in your post. ... There were no female responses [while he was on the Occupy comments thread], except from a Jennifer who was engaging me in conversation.]"
Plants concludes: "I did post a couple times in the group before with no issue."
Wiggs also left a statement in this morning's thread and Plants has responded there.
I just spoke with Sean Wiggs, an administrator for the Facebook page (and a copywriter by day). Wiggs says Plants was not banned for his political point of view ("there are no political requirements for joining the page," Wiggs says, "you can be a Republican" ), but says that shortly after Plants joined the online discussion, the administrators got several complaints from women about "safety." Wiggs would not elaborate, simply saying that the women did not want Plants to be able to contact them online.
Wiggs says he is Plants' former roommate and they are "not on good terms, so "I recused myself from the matter." There are about 35 administrators for the page, Wiggs says, and other administrators dealt with the matter. The page—a secondary "think tank sort of page for Occupy activists," as opposed to their main page—has slightly more than 1,100 members. (The main page has more than 27,000 likes.)
The community took a vote and they decided to ban Plants from the discussion, Wiggs says.
Regarding the insinuation that he has a controversial past, Plants, who says he's been in a relationship for the majority of his time in Seattle, tells PubliCola, "I worked with [the Seattle Police Department] as a [domestic violence] Victim Support Team member, so I find the implication highly offensive .... [I] had to do full criminal background [check] and drug test. I also had to [do] a background [check] while I was in the Army as I had a secret clearance that goes back seven years."
He adds: "All I can say, was no one mentioned any women being uncomfortable with me until I read those comments in your post. ... There were no female responses [while he was on the Occupy comments thread], except from a Jennifer who was engaging me in conversation.]"
Plants concludes: "I did post a couple times in the group before with no issue."
Wiggs also left a statement in this morning's thread and Plants has responded there.
