What Arnold and Ralph and Calvin and me have in common: mindset is power I'm not so naive…

What Arnold and Ralph and Calvin and me have in common: mindset is power

I'm not so naive (I'm actually not naive at all - I'm a 55.5 year old woman and I have seen A LOT) as to think politics is always fair and media is always unbiased.

Even when I had my own politics show and moderated debates, my own ideas crept in! Some of those were that you learn as much about people (or more) by treating them kindly as you do by putting them on the hot seat, and that young people deserve a voice in conversations that influence decisions they'll have to live with the longest.

In my admittedly biased opinion, those ideas are empowering and positive.

On the other hand, the idea some people are floating that there are a select few people campaigning for municipal office "with a chance" or who matter is negative and demoralizing...

Not just for the many caring, committed people who took the time to get 25+ signatures, raise the $200, fill out the voluminous paperwork, and who are working to contribute to the conversation by publicly putting their vision for London out there....

But also for voters who see and hear that message, and realize that what they can contribute, which at the end of the day is one vote each, means even less.

This is my polite and not naive request to the media, my former colleagues, to stop telling people they don't matter. You have an opportunity (in my view, an obligation) to uplift, to elevate, to encourage, to educate, and to be a part of building the best community London can be. And that includes sharing all the options, and recognizing the ways bias creeps into unbiased reporting.