The Kandit of the future

If all Kandit ever amounted to was a place online that promoted animals and reunited them with their owners, an inspiration to overcome drug abuse, and a catalyst for the Catholic faith, I would be a million times over joyous about that.

But among what I’ve learned in this journey over the past five years is that Kandit isn’t about me and what I like all the time. If it were, believe me, this page would be all about puppies, kittens, and Jesus. I came very close recently to making that call.

Yesterday, one of our younger viewers came up to me at the gym and asked me, “Can you guys do more of those stories you used to do? The exciting stuff.”

I knew exactly what he meant. The corruption stories. The microscopic examination of a Guam Police Department drunk with rampant abuse on police power. The failures of government and how those failures hurt people. The exposure of poverty. The sexual abuse of kids.

Last week in what had become a rare in-studio livestream of a hard news story for Kandit, I complained that I was tired of “bitching” about the problems and looking back to see that hardly anything has changed. I failed to realize the most important thing hasn’t changed as well: Our readers’ and viewers’ appetite for the truth and patronage of the news and editorial we bring you.

The young man reminded me of that, when he asked me to “do more of those stories” we used to do all the time.

That we will do, starting today. That commitment also will be coming with some changes to our content.

What will remain in the past are the vengeance, vendetta, and personal animas that started this page. We also no longer will share our personal viewpoints on whom we believe voters should elect or not vote for at elections.

Over the past couple months we also reversed our policy of rarely censoring comments. On top of our longstanding policy of not allowing comments that promote violence or name victims of family and sex violence, we absolutely will delete racist and misogynistic comments and ban profiles that continuously provide comments that add zero value to the progress of society. Misleading or false information that will tend to harm the health and safety of others also will be nixed. People who shame victims of sexual violence will be banned from our page.

We’ll continue posting the birthdays and the obituaries at no cost to you. We just might not be able to get to all of it. The lost and found animals, promotion of small businesses, and the happy stories will continue to have their place on Kandit.

Please understand, too, that we are a small operation and we will not have the resources to cover every important story. We will continue to care less about those useless proclamations and resolutions from politicians, or reactionary political posturing from legislators and governors. We do not exist to give them voices.

But we’ll return to the heart of our platform. And that is all about making dirty politicians as uncomfortable as possible, and promoting a Marianas that grows up from violence and abuse into a kinder, ethical, and smarter society.

Thank you, always, for your support and encouragement.