My neighborhood Facebook group just deleted a meme about the HOA president's lawn

I posted a silly edit of the HOA president's perfect grass with a bald spot drawn on it saying 'my lawn after a week without rain' and it got removed in 20 minutes. The admin sent me a warning about 'targeted harassment' even though nobody's name was in the picture. Doesn't that kind of overreach make you wonder who's really deciding what counts as free speech in local spaces?

2 comments

2 Comments

bettyk5320d ago

Gotta push back a little here - that meme was technically targeted harassment even if you didn't use their name. The HOA president's lawn is super recognizable to everyone in that group, so people knew exactly who you were talking about. It's the same as if I posted a pic of my neighbor's car with a dent drawn on it and said "whoops hit a mailbox lol" - everyone knows who that is. Those neighborhood FB groups have their own rules about what's okay, and admin probably caught flack from the HOA board already. Personally I'd just let it go and post memes about the weather instead of singling out specific people's property.

jesse_cooper20d ago

I get what you're saying betty, but I gotta push back a little on the "targeted harassment" part (mostly because it wasn't actually harassment, you know?). Drawing a bald spot on a lawn is pretty mild and honestly kind of funny, not threatening or mean. The admin called it targeted harassment, but that's a stretch. A joke about a lawn isn't harassment unless someone's name or face is involved, and even then it's just a silly picture. The HOA president probably complained and the admin folded, which is how these things go. It's less about protecting people and more about keeping the board happy (sad but true).