'May I Be Blunt?' Save Anchorage moderator explains departure after 'Reefer-Gate'

Last Thursday's meeting of the Eagle River Community Council was packed with individuals who overwhelmingly support the opening of cannabis shops in their community. The high level of turnout at the meeting can most certainly be attributed to a bad political play made by Eagle River Assemblyperson Jamie Allard, who with one Facebook post last Thursday gaslit an entire community and generated a firestorm of controversy and outrage.

Even those considered among the most ardent of Allard's supporters expressed their displeasure with her post, which depicted a black male lighting the marijuana cigarette of a minor white male.

Allard's post, made first to her official/not official Facebook account, was subsequently shared with the Save Anchorage group where one of the group's moderators, Eagle River resident Donna Schopp, determined that the photograph included in Allard's post was in violation of the group's rules and removed it. Subsequently, Schopp messaged Allard on Facebook and offered her the opportunity to repost it without the photograph.

In response, Allard called Schopp's decision to block her post from the group "epic."

Schopp's removal of the post from the group prompted Allard to seek the reinstatement of her post — photograph included — to the group. In the end, Schopp was overruled and Allard's post, along with its troubling accompanying photograph, was permitted to stay.

On Friday, roughly 24 hours after Allard had stirred the proverbial pot, Schopp not only resigned from her role as moderator, but also left the group altogether.

Schopp created the CER Citizens for a Responsible Cannabis Industry Facebook group last April and since leaving Save Anchorage in the wake of Allard's 'Reefer-Gate' drama, is seeking help from those supportive of bringing cannabis businesses to the Chugiak Eagle River area to aid the effort.

Today, Schopp provided a statement to The Blue Alaskan addressing some of the reasons for her departure. It is shared here with her permission.

Blogger's Note: As I understand it, the latest conspiracy theory eminating from Save Anchorage is that The Blue Alaskan is suspected to be "Adam Johnson" because I used this stock photo in a related piece last week. The photo was first drudged up by an individual Thursday on Twitter, where it was shared and circulated roughly 7 hours before I published the piece. Apparently the stock photo was also shared with Save Anchorage by Johnson, which has given rise to yet another baseless conspiracy theory, you know, as usual.

Schopp's Letter:

I left SA voluntarily. But it actually wasn’t for the reasons you might think.

A gentleman named Adam Johnson contacted me via Facebook messenger to ask me why he had been banned from SA. Adam had found Jamie’s wildly inappropriate photo she had used online and shared the link with her followers in the comments section of the article she shared from her personal/public Facebook page.

First, I thanked him for finding the photo that helped prove my point. I told him I’d go look and find out if/why he was banned. When I reviewed the recent Admin/moderator actions and saw that he had been banned by one of the admins shortly after posting the link to the photo, I took a screenshot of the information and inquired with the group (we had a group chat we used to discuss posts, members and various other issues) to see what rules Adam had violated that got him banned.

I was told that his account was fake and that he was most likely a mole. I pushed for additional clarification on the issue but after further discussion I decided it was time for me to resign not just from being a moderator for the group but from the group completely. I politely told the the other admins/moderators that I had appreciated the opportunity and that the experience had REALLY opened my eyes. One of the moderators asked if I would stay through the election. I told him I had already removed myself from the group but that I would think about it.

Shortly after resigning I noticed I could no longer find Jamie’s personal/public profile page anymore, much less comments on her post. I was still able to chat with the other moderators in the SA chat room so I decided to inform them of the situation.

This is what I said to them:

"Jamie Allard just blocked me from even finding her on Facebook. She uses her personal Facebook account for Assembly business to communicate through public Facebook posts. I'm one of her constituents…so how would this work exactly if I decided to come back to the group to continue to help through the election?"

There were crickets from the other moderators/admins.

I didn’t need to think about this anymore. I knew then that I absolutely wanted nothing to do with this group anymore although I did kick around the idea of using this fiasco to help find out who the Blue Alaskan is but quickly realized I really don’t care.

So what if people with opposing opinions are members of Save Anchorage and they take screenshots of conversations in the SA group? Members of our group do it too! Some moles take comments completely out of context and repost them on other sites with wildly inappropriate comments.

Are their "fanatics" in the SA group? Of course there are…every group has them. If there was no social media we’d be saying these things in public at meetings and public debates, right? If we all agreed on every issue that would mean we are living in an echo chamber and that’s not good.

Aren’t we all complaining that the citizens of this country have lost the ability to debate a topic without the conversation becoming combative?

This whole diabolical series of events has reminded me of a saying "If you don’t stand for something, then you will fall for anything."

I couldn’t be a part of a group where people like Jamie Allard can post whatever propaganda she wants that will passively/aggressively support her agenda. Is Jamie Allard a ghost admin for SA? I don’t think so…I think she is one of the few members that don’t need their post reviewed by a moderator or admin.

I was pleasantly surprised to see so many people call Jamie out for her photo selection for her post, but the group as a whole is not what it used to be. I don’t vote for a candidate based on their party affiliation, I support the candidate I feel will do the best job supporting issues that matter to me and will do right by my community. Character and integrity matter to me immensely.