Monitor editors should reconsider their apparent approval of vote shaming (Monitor editorial, Feb. 28). This anti-privacy stance is especially dangerous in a social media age that feeds on the reckless rush to judgment.
During the last presidential campaign, the invasive, unsolicited vote shaming mailings I received were riddled with errors. Names and addresses of neighbors who supposedly neglected to vote included both individuals who no longer resided in Concord and who were deceased. Perhaps a voter was too ill to get to the polls. Perhaps after thoughtful deliberation a voter intentionally opted not to endorse any candidate. No benefit of the doubt coexists with vote shaming tactics.
Journalists especially should recognize that indiscriminate, widespread distribution of false personal information is defamation, not “positive peer pressure.” Simply because information is publicly available does not mean it is ethical or helpful to civil discourse “to deploy the guilt-bombing weapon.”
Vote shaming encroaches upon the sanctity of Americans’ right to a secret ballot. It is a slippery slope from doxxing to mobocracy.
CYNTHIA ROUVALIS
Concord