Commissioner Scott Newton, City Manager Joseph Gallegos

September 11, 2010

Commissioner Scott Newton
City Manager Joseph Gallegos
2020 Wilton Drive
Wilton Manors, FL 33305

RE: Is it a “slippery slope” or a “chilling effect”? – Some comments on the article in today’s Sun-Sentinel about “racist” E-mails.

Mr. Newton & Mr. Gallegos,

Commissioner Newton’s uncle Isaac only had to be hit once in the head by a falling apple to grasp the gravitas of gravity. The Commissioner apparently chains himself to the old apple tree trying to earn consideration for the next edition of the Guinness Book. His desired goal is to be known as a

HORSE’S ASS OF THE WEEK
[POLITICIAN CUM LITERARY CRITIC]

“Dying is easy; comedy is hard.”

We can stipulate that the E-mails were sent from computers owned by the City of Wilton Manors. Further, there was no realistic expectation of privacy.

One E-mail that was deemed racist and offensive was published in its entirety in today’s Sun-Sentinel. What Wilton Manors finds offensive the Sun-Sentinel doesn’t. Perhaps it is an example of “de gustibus…” Perhaps not.

Commissioner Newton says “there will be consequences”. He then adds that “the City Manager will do what is appropriate”.

City Manager Gallegos says “there will be consequences”.

The obvious question is who writes their material

Is Mr. Gallegos the official censor of Wilton Manors? If he is what special qualifications does he have for the task?

Does he know Lysistrata? Juvenal? Dante? Cervantes? Swift? Moliere? Toole?

I ask that, and this is going to shock you, because the First Amendment is in force even in Wilton Manors. The First Amendment begins with the majestic words “Congress shall make no law…”

What if I were to go the library on 26th Street in Wilton Manors and ask for a copy of Dick Gregory’s excellent autobiography? Would I be allowed to ask for it by its name? Its name is the “dreaded ‘N’ word”, the word that no White man dares use. [The only exception to this was Senator Byrd but since he just died we’ll forget about it] Would the librarian also be in trouble? Would there be “consequences”? Maybe you could double the sales tax on books with “offensive” or “racist” words in them. That way you could fund an obligatory class – like after you get a speeding ticket – to sensitize the insensitive. We keep raising the tax on tobacco. How about taxing the bejeezus out of “racist” or “offensive” speech.

Do we really need Mark Twain?

Hamlet, after seducing, ravaging, and then abandoning Ophelia, says to her, “Get thee to a nunnery”. In Shakespeare’s time “nunnery” meant whorehouse, like the one that Barney Frank ran in his cellar, remember? Will the City Manager take a stand against Shakespeare? I’ve always felt that King Lear was a bit over the top. Henry the Fifth’s speech at Harfleur is not exactly family friendly. The problem with Othello is that medieval miscegenation leads to murder. The first two, featuring violence, are offensive”,
The last one is “racist”.

Are those lessons lesson we want a post racial society to learn?

Will Gallegos become the new Will Hays?

There was a Chinese agrarian reformer who said “Let a thousand flowers bloom”.

Will Wilton Manors become the Grim Reaper of cutting edge thought?

I guess the modern day Catos would frown on a combination flag, bible, and a Holy Sacred Koran burning.

I don’t care if the “slippery slope” was a “shovel ready” project. It is starting to get mighty “chilling” out there.




Kevin Smith


PS – Since it all depends on whose Gore is being oxed is there any chance of avoiding “consequences” if we have a Koran burning if front of the library to protest Islamic homophobia?