Who is The Niagara Protagonist?
My name is Sandor Ligetfalvy. This blog is the home of my reporting and commentaries for 2022. This is a new blog but this is not my first rodeo.
Prior to starting The Niagara Protagonist I was admin of a Facebook group in 2021 which was both influential and, at times, controversial. For a variety of reasons I have shut down that group and am approaching the new year in this venue instead. My focus now remains what it was then, although in a new venue.
I am interested in refuting political bias and media criticism. This was the same focus I had on a much smaller scale when I was critical of the student union of the local university under the name the Brock University Gadfly (founded 2013). My 2018–2019 reporting and commentaries pertaining to BUSU referendum unfairness can be found here.
Whereas a gadfly was a “an annoying person, especially one who provokes others into action by criticism”, a protagonist is “an important person who is involved in a competition, conflict, or cause”.
My antagonist? Same as always, same as pertained to Brock University: Dissatisfaction in contemporary journalism and the influence that has on political naivete; media manipulation and political bullying. In 2021 my rebukes of media and politics were published directly to Facebook under the group name WTF NIAGARA. I have published an archive of all my posts on the group here, which includes posts from the spin-off group WTFN2 as I embraced satirical comics as a form of political expression.
The protagonist is not necessarily (although is usually) the “Good Guy”. He or she (or they or it) is merely important and involved in the story, who faces challenges and has goals which are either fulfilled or not. I am not singularly the protagonist in my stories, but an author of enhancing the protagonism of others, especially when they have been bullied through media and political misrepresentation. Perhaps we are all the heroes of our own adventures.
Regardless, no one else will (nor can) tell my stories for me as no one else sees it as I do, has my experience and background, nor is in my unique position in Niagara. The name is chosen to invert the status quo. Me, and the causes I symbolize, have come to be represented in media as the bad guys, as the fools and foils to their self-righteous objectives.
2021: In January I spoke up against regional council’s political bias. In February I skewered fake news for provoking fear and escalating tensions. In March I spoke up against crybullyies. In April I walked with protesters and was given fines. The protest organizers were charged. In May I was arrested at city hall for protesting against the arrest of protesters. I was given conditions that I can not be within 50m of a megaphone. The same week my Facebook account of more than 10 years was deleted, and I lost all the media criticism I had done up until then. The person who flagged me was the person who I was criticizing. Imagine that. The St. Catharines Standard described me as a “key figure” in protests, but certainly didn’t waste ink defending my rights. In June I started making comics as the general discourse continued to deteriorate. The media called for coercion and mandates. The media wouldn’t quote protesters, just the experts who would blame protesters. The rabble were getting restless and the local operative known as a journalist was more interested in the comments in the fringes than the claims of my posts. Then there were incidences of vandalism and in each occasion somehow my group (involved in protesting, media criticism and political criticism) was fingered either by implication or by explicit accusations. By the fall I had retreated to my own workload, but published a print book of my satirical comics which sold well to the audience. At the very end of the year, I deactivated my second Facebook account after a variety of annoyances including being flagged again by the same antagonist.
2022: This week, I was contacted by an anonymous source who wanted me — of all the people in the world, or at least in Niagara — to distribute and discuss it. The information was distributed by another activist, but the leaker thought of me first. That letter was the biggest news story of the week and the hot topic at council. I have a role here which I am uniquely suited for and need to embrace, and I embrace it as The Niagara Protagonist. In this coming year I am facing charges for common nuisance after protesting, but I don’t plan on fighting it in court. I will have to pick my battles more selectively.
I am a graduate of Journalism-Print at Niagara College (2005) and Interactive Multimedia (2006). Most of my experience in print publishing was through marketing and advertising. My first career was a graphic and web designer. Over the years, I did websites for S.C.E.N.E. Music Festival and Niagara Falls Comic Con and had clients such as the Welland Canals Foundation. My second career was as a kitchen wench and prep cook which brought me as high as the Lake Louise in the rocky mountains and as far as Vancouver Island. My third career is solo game developer; I’ve launched one game on Android and am slowly developing more products. I’m a father to a soon-to-be two year old.
The above is essential context to understanding The Niagara Protagonist. My origins story is established and the narrative is simply entering its next volume of work. New year, new me. Be better, they said. Okay, this is it.
