The Truth About The Viral Centennial Park Facebook Post

Alright everyone, this morning was wild. Well, or at least that's when I saw this.

Wait, Wait, What is it?

I don't even really remember where I saw it, to be honest. Well, I mean, on Facebook.  I saw it there, but what group I saw it in, I don't know.  It spread around to a few places pretty quickly. But I did manage to save the picture. Here it is.

Guys.

The number of comments I saw under this picture.  So many people thought this was real.  It's not.  Yes, there will be new facilities at the Centennial Park location, but it will not be an oil change center.

So What Happened?

That's just it.  Nothing happened, you guys.  Someone made a satirical account and used a website like Canva to make a fake flyer.  This isn't the first time someone's tried to pull the wool over Sedalia's eyes. Don't you guys remember the sign prank? I found out who it was last time, but this time, the prankster seems to have posted and ran. There was a parody account made on Facebook, and now it's gone. Or I'm blocked from it. But I think it was just deleted.

I personally think it was a response to all the unwanted excitement we've had this year. Namely I think it was partially because of the Hole Lotta Love Contest . On paper, I get how the contest could be a good idea. They want to engage with people, and have people working with the solution, so they feel like they're part of their government. And getting rewarded for doing that seems well intentioned.

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But frankly, I just think this was the wrong time for something like that.  Again, pretty deece idea, but... a lot of people don't trust the City or their City Council right now.  And to ask for a favor from someone who doesn't trust you?  That seems like a big ask. I realize the Park Department is a different entity from the City Council, but.... of course they're associated with each other.  And of course not every pothole or road issue is solved by the city, MoDOT is involved, too.  But with the sudden, unexplained resignation of Tom Oldham, the silence around that and the rumors that are flying,....a lot of people assume the worst when they are left to fill in the blanks.  Can you blame them? Transparency is hard, but it's essential when we're trusting our elected officials.

And all of  that doesn't even touch all the issues people had with the eminent domain projects. There were a lot of missteps with that.  I think both sides can agree on that part, to put that diplomatically.  But I understand where they're coming from, they feel like their City government isn't listening. And asking the public to, frankly, do someone else's job that they're getting paid to do with our tax dollars...... just came at the wrong time.  And the Parks and Rec/Centennial Pool just happened to be the target.

And that tone, that's what I think this was all about.  But I don't know any more about who did it and why they really did it then you do. I mean, I'm just a layman, I don't know the answers to any of this any more than you do.  I think someone was annoyed about the fact that they feel unheard by their local government, and so they acted out.  I don't know that for 100%, and I don't know who did it, but that's just what I think.  And when they saw too many people were taking it seriously, they deleted.

We might need to have another talk about telling real from fake posts.  To me, it was obvious this was fake from the get go.  But it's not to everyone.  Maybe we'll revisit that.

Canvaingly yours,
Behka