Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 12, 1995 TAG: 9505120027
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-20 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Fierce ol' "Boss" Ball, who has represented Henrico County for 12 terms in the Virginia House of Delegates, is threatening to break people's legs if they don't support him in an upcoming primary.
(The above is sarcasm, heightened for humorous effect with a slight exaggeration. Actually, he made his remark to just one person. That we know of, anyway.)
What is alleged, quite seriously, is that Del. Robert Ball - a good-natured, old-fashioned politician and bear of a man who is tagged Boss Ball (no doubt as a jab at his style, but meant with all good humor) - threatened the Charles City County treasurer.
"If you work for McEachin [his primary opponent], I will break both your legs," he told Darlene B. Giles.
Had Ball threatened to pull one leg (get it?), that might have been one thing. But break two? Giles saw no alternative but to seek legal recourse.
Oh, she's not so unimaginative as to believe Ball literally would attack her with a baseball bat. But, she complained to the state Board of Elections, she took the remark as a warning that, as chairman of House Appropriations, he could hurt her career or cut funding for her office. Oh my.
The fact that he made this menacing remark (this is meant sarcastically) before others at a Democratic Party meeting, and that he followed it with laughter and a hug, did nothing to indicate to her that, just maybe, he was speaking with a gruffness implying affection for someone who has been a supporter. (``Just maybe" is meant sarcastically, but the rest of the sentence aims to express sincere astonishment.)
Further, this affront (sarcasm) showed a lack of respect, Giles said, because she is young (36), black and a woman.
Oh, come on. (Now this is sincere aggravation.) Thirty-six may be young in politics, but it's old enough to understand the subtleties of language, particularly between two people who know each other and are speaking in person, with the advantage of body language to convey the spirit in which something is said. This was hardly analogous, for example, to radio talker G. Gordon Liddy explaining where to shoot federal agents if they raid one's arms cache.
Have we grown so sensitive, so suspicious of each other, that we are unable any longer to use words in any but the most literal sense? If so, how will we be able to communicate at all?
Fear of persecution is becoming a societal disease, whose spread is not limited to the political-correctness police on the left. The Wall Street Journal wrote recently about "Report From Iron Mountain," which apparently has become one of the sacred texts of the militia movement. This book outlines various Machiavellian schemes to keep the populace on a war footing against an imagined enemy in order to control and enslave the American people. It was long ago revealed as a hoax, written, its author says, as political satire during the Vietnam War.
Yet some people - including some who march through woods in camouflage, face paint and hiking boots, preparing to fight the federal government - apparently take this "report" on its face. Granted, they may also believe a New World Order backed by "international bankers" (read: Jews) is about to take away their guns with the help of crack United Nations troops. But we're not talking about rationality here. We're talking about communication, or the lack of it.
Can we lighten up, please? With vitriol rolling over the political landscape like lava erupting from mountains of paranoia and resentment, too many imaginary enemies are out there already. And that is grim.
by CNB