Floodwaters have tormented much of Missouri in recent months. But its the toxic streams of social media and small-town politics that have converged to put the city of Lexington in the national spotlight and leave their stain on the land.
After the city council voted 6-1 in February to fire a popular city administrator, the resulting backlash, propelled by social media, swept three of those council members out of office in April, defeated by write-in candidates sympathetic to the fired administrator.
But the raging waters would not recede, and last week, they carried off the formerly popular Mayor Fred Wiedner, who resigned, took a job out of state and cited the high-tech tar-and-feathering of social media as the main culprit.
I did not sign up for this mess, he wrote in his resignation letter. Or, possibly I did and just didnt realize how mean people could be. Either way, it is no longer worth the battle.
Critics wanted the mayors head, and they got it. Not through the bush-league background checks they performed on him, which couldnt dig up any more dirt than the same financial difficulties of a decade ago that washed over millions. No, what got them their wall trophy were the unsubstantiated insinuations about the mayors past or incompetent business dealings and, of course, the ominous but illusory shadows of what he might be up to today that folks dont know about.
All this might not have happened were it not for the insidious power of social media to create constant churn and feed unwarranted animus. Its an addictive chemical that induces otherwise normal people to wage remote blitzkrieg.
Social media may be a net positive, but its negatives can be most vile.
I think a lot of people dont have anything else to do during the day, said a Lexington official who requested anonymity for fear of further backlash.
We are better than this, the official said. This is a historic, lovely town.
The former mayor, a transplant from Kansas who thought hed settled into idyllic small-town life, had done a good job, the official said, adding that he was an upbeat sort who expected the hate to evaporate. In vain, it turns out.
He just had enough, lamented Bill Miller, a former eight-year councilman. I dont blame him for pulling up stakes.
Social media is alive and well in this town, and its vicious, Miller says. I guess its that way across the country.
In that way, the former mayor is racing the sun.
