Get over it

November 15, 2007

Dear Sir,

This letter is to address the reader who was ?disgusted with the picture on the front of the Bermuda Sun, Wednesday, November 8, 2006?: It?s called ?satire?. Get over it. You said ?We had a UBP government for 40 years and they had never depicted the UBP in such a negative and degrading manner.? Where have you been? Peter Woolcock has been doing it for years. He?s dressed both sides of government up in every costume imaginable, including drag, and made a fine living off it. (Keep it up Peter. Love your work.)

You went on to say ?In what country can you do this type of reporting and walk around and not look over your shoulder?? Answer: any country that proclaims to have some sort of right to free speech. What about Time Magazine? US News? Toronto Star? Toronto Sun? New York Times? Wall Street Journal? Any of those reputable publications ring a bell? They have entire sections dedicated to political cartoons/satire on world leaders. What about television? Jay Leno, David Letterman?

Jon Stewart has an entire show devoted to making fun of (arguably) the ?most powerful elected official in the world? No one, not even the pope, is safe. If you want to get involved in politics, prepare to be made fun of. Like mama used to say, ?If you can?t take the heat, etc. etc.? If anyone from the PLP, UBP or anyone in between is offended by such depictions as the Star Trek spoof, tough cookie. Don?t run for government.

I agree that sometimes opinionated pieces have a one-sided slant to them, but that depends who writes them. They are OPINIONS and as such, the writer is free to voice his or her feelings. If you don?t like what they?re writing, go apply as a journalist and write your own opinion column. I do not always side with Fred Barritt?s (the Sun Columnist who wrote the Next Generation article) opinions, but what is free speech without the right to voice opinions contrary to the government? If you want to live in a place that only has nice things to say about the ruling party, there?s a lovely place out east called North Korea. I hear the weather is nice this time of year.

In reference to your comment about the Bermuda Sun and the Gazette ?pushing indecisive Bermudians towards the PLP government? ? that is ridiculous. I confess to being a middle-of-the-road voter, and I felt no such way after reading the article. Anyone who is persuaded to vote for a party based on a cartoon or anything else on the opinion page should be placed outside the polling stations with an ?I?m too dumb to vote? sticker on their forehead.

It?s an opinion. Study the facts. Listen to what each party is saying, and vote based on what your heart tells you to vote, not because the Premier was made up to look like Jean Luc Picard. Come on people. Use your common sense. Accept the fact that if you are in the limelight, and especially if you are a government official, you are going to be the target of ridicule.

If anything, those who roll with the punches and show their sense of humour at such attacks come across more human and likeable to the common voter. Blatant inflammatory attacks are one thing, but those who take humorous jabs too seriously appear not ?Flexible But Balanced? but rather ?Stiff and Off-Kilter?.

FREE SPEECH FOR ALL

Pembroke

Bring back the love

November 18, 2006

Dear Sir,

Today was St. Mary?s church fair: A place where people come to have a good time and sell some stuff to others. Today should have been fun for everyone. Around 3.30 p.m. during a Gombey dancer presentation I was side tracked to the back where a father was beating and taunting his son to hit back. The gentlemen will remain anonymous but you know who you are.

The son who was around 17 or 18 was being punched around the face and being pushed into the bushes over and over again. Next thing you know the Gombeys stopped and the lead Gombey went over to stop the mad man from beating his son anymore. The father lashed out at him and caused him to back away while the father went back to beating his son.

Now I?m not saying there wasn?t a lot of people here. In fact there we so many people there enjoying watching the Gombeys perform to be disappointed with the sudden stopping of the drums and everyone screaming ?Stop it! Leave him alone?. The father replied: ?If he wants to act like an adult then I?m going to treat him like an adult!? Now so I?ve heard the son doesn?t live with the family anymore.

To me there is a difference between disciplining your children to beating the living daylights out of them. Now we?re talking about this happening on a church ground full of people and the father just ignores everyone and continues to beat him. Many gentlemen butted in to stop the fight to have the father threatening to beat them. I happened to be one of the people to interfere to have the father in my face.

I could see in his eyes he wanted to severely hurt his son. I had about ten to 15 people calling the police to come and help this poor boy. Well guess what? Guess how long it took the police to arrive? Thirty minutes!

I couldn?t believe that they took so long to show up with so many people calling. I would like to thank everyone for their help in the situation. All I have to say is there is no need to beat your children like that. Everyone including myself was appalled with the father?s behaviour. Where is the love? What?s happening to Bermuda? Why is there so much anger in everyone these days? Someone must have the answers to this?

Parents, here is a little advice. Don?t beat your children. What you do to them, they will do onto others and even their children if they have any. No one deserves to be treated like that and I mean no one. If you have a problem with them and you?ve tried to discipline them without ?beating them?, there are numbers you can call that help with problem children and family matters. Please Bermuda. Stop with the anger and bring back the love.

CONCERNED BERMUDIAN

Warwick

Apologies to W&E workmen

November 20, 2006

Dear Sir

This is to apologise to the W&E staff using the trailer just east of the Shelly Bay Market Place for splashing their trailer this morning, November 20, while it was raining. I thought that I had slowed sufficiently before going through the puddle. We appreciate the good work of your department nonetheless and hope that it happened to you only once.

NO MORE SPLASHES

St. George?s