During Magnolia Mayor Parnell Vann’s recent State of the City address, he touched on something that has long been a pet peeve of ours – people who badmouth their own hometown.
Even animals know better than to soil their own nests.
But how many times have you heard negative comments from people who in effect are soiling our collective nest?
We recall a former Chamber of Commerce director of an area community bemoaning the fact that folks contemplating moving to the town were treated to hearing comments in a local restaurant whining there was nothing to do and nobody should move there. Well, that kind of word-of-mouth publicity certainly won’t help develop local attractions, will it?
But those types of comments are commonly heard, with those uttering them not thinking about what type of image they’re projecting, not only of our town but themselves.
Alas, the saying that familiarity breeds contempt is too often true with people knocking where the live, which we suspect is a pose to suggest they’re actually more sophisticated than the rest of us.
So, negative talk by our own folks is bad enough for our hometown by our own, but, as Mayor Vann noted, it’s at a whole new, more pervasive level, thanks to social media.
“When we get on social media, and we get on a rant about something, I’ve had industry tell me they look at our social media,” Vann said. “I can tell you that the people that live in this city, very seldom do I see you on there. But I see people from Miami, Mt. Holly, Buckner, Hot Springs — they’re talking about us, and they don’t even live with us.”
We do hope that the naysayers among us do not extend their negativism online and if we know folks who don’t live here who are besmirching us online, let’s tell them, “Hey, Magnolia is a great town, a great place to live and work and raise a family.”
And make sure, when we talk about our hometown, let’s do it with the same pride that we talk about our families.