I had lunch at Sal’s in Leesburg today.
When I mow my lawn, postage stamp that it is, I allow myself a beer or two that day. And this morning, I mowed my lawn . So I went to my favorite local watering hole, Sal’s NY Bar & Grill, for lunch.
At the bar was a gentleman who worked in the construction business. A long time Loudoun resident, he had some choice comments about Scott York, among others. It surprised me to hear that he was a big supporter of Mr. Eugene Delgaudio.
At that point, two beers in that I might have been, I expressed my personal disdain for Mr. Delgaudio. My barmate expressed his opinion that the Supervisor represented his constituents. I said that might have been true of the Sterling 20 years ago, but it is not true of Sterling today. I told my fellow-drinker-of-inexpensive-beer that it is the responsibility of an elected official to represent and serve ALL his or her constituents. I told him that the Sterling Supervisor had failed to do so. I told him that I strongly, strongly opposed any elected officials who referred to ANY of their constituents as “it.”
My friend at the bar said, “let’s get off the gay issue.”
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Yes, I agree, and that was my point. Perhaps not well made, but my point nonetheless. I was doing my best to assert the humanity of everyone, publicly, at lunch yesterday.
No, I don’t think you got Paradox’s point.
The person described provides a great example of Delgaudio’s base. There are two possibilities: This is simply an immoral, unthinking, self-centered person, to whom other people don’t count. Or, he consciously joins Mr. Delgaudio in denying the humanity of some people: “Those” people don’t count because they’re not really as human as I am.
Either way, the only appropriate response is shame. It is never, ever acceptable to use such language to talk about other human beings, for any reason whatsoever. There are abundant lessons from history that tell us the result when we permit any group of people to be defined as less than human. It’s not possible to be “neutral” on this question. There is no neutral.
Hi Paradox13,
I don’t think you got my point. If you want to shake people like this loose, say “corrupt politician”. Don’t say “injustice anywhere”, because your “friend” will think “dirty hippy has nothing to say”.
I refer to him as “my friend” in the context of “someone sitting next to me at the bar.” As in a matter of politeness, not a statement of a personal relationship. I don’t know the guy and suspect I’ll not see him again anytime soon.
At any rate, I thought it useful to assert the commonality of all humanity while having a beer on a Wednesday afternoon. “Injustice anywhere” and such…
My, that’s interesting. Supervisor Delgaudio MAKES-HIS-LIVING-ON-THE-GAY-ISSUE, but when you mention the larger issue of basic human decency, you’re bringing up “the gay issue”. I see why people who hold your friend’s world view embrace exceptionalism. I think you need to have another talk with your friend. Since he’s in construction, you might want to stick to “design abominations” “he helped Jack Shockey sell lots and lots of concrete” and “corrupt politician”.
Gah! Doesn’t he know that it’s not a Gay issue? It’s a basic decency issue. You don’t call human beings “it”. You. Just. Don’t. And that an elected official would and did should make all those who are represented by him feel ashamed.