By Rick Reilly / Washington Post / Feb. 5, 2024
Are you bummed you weren’t around when the Stasi ruled? Do you wish you could’ve been one of Mao Zedong’s millions of neighborhood snitches? Maybe watch the Red Guards drag off your least favorite aunt?
Not to worry, the bad old days are back — thanks to Nextdoor.com.
On Nextdoor all you have to do is sign up, log in and start profiling everyone on your block. Teenager in a hoodie walking on your street? Lock your doors. Black guy with a backpack standing on the corner? Call the cops.
Just last week on Nextdoor, someone in the Hamptons posted a front-door video of a teenage girl and wrote, “Does anyone recognize this young woman?” Yes, her mom did: “She is selling cookies to raise money to go on a high school trip. Shame on you. … Not everyone is a thief, or a bad person.”
You’d never know it on Nextdoor. The hilarious podcast “I’ve Had It” found this one the other day: “I’ve seen a suspicious person now numerous times,” someone posted. “Aged mid-50s and white … Drives a luxury car but never seems to go to work. … Not sure how this person affords to do this … Hence, I’ve reported him to the IRS … Stay vigilant!”
And it’s not just Nextdoor. Aspiring vigilantes can also gather on Facebook and WhatsApp neighborhood groups and start whispering campaigns. You want to take America’s temperature? Lurk around on a few of them to see how petty and judgmental we can be.
There’s a Nextdoor user criticizing the paltry size of some of the Halloween candy being handed out “in a town with the fine reputation of Rancho Cucamonga.” There’s the vegan couple complaining about the smell of their neighbor’s barbecue invading their “meat-free radius.” (Is there a kale-free radius?)
For the balance of this article, please go here.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I am surprised I have not been reported as some derelict walking the streets and alleys of OB. I have found NextDoor to be a net positive…keeps me up to date on goings-on around the city. It is good to call out those posts that cross the line.
Lost your dog? Prepared to be shamed by the passive aggressive little questions all your neighbors will throw at you. Was he wearing a collar? Did you have your door open? How did he get out? Does he have all of his shots? You know we have coyotes, right?
I don’t have pets but we have an outdoor cat that we share amongst our complex. Nextdoor ladies will come unglued about why you let your cat outdoors. Has anybody ever tried to keep a cat in somewhere it does not want to be? You cannot do it. Further, cats have been deemed nomads. That’s why we don’t license them. They go wherever they want. They’re like squirrels. You can say you own a cat but you cannot really own a cat unless it wants to be owned.
It’s about time someone blew the whistle on this “neighborhood service .” I had to laugh: it IS a SoCal version of the Stasi, but you have to know what the Stasi is in order to avoid it. Be smart and never sign up.