Don?t prescribe grammar

August 6, 2004

Dear Sir,

Re: Today?s editorial entitled ?Offensive words?.

I would like to express my support of Mr. King?s decision, and to the comments that were attributed to him by .

Modern linguists today favour describing grammar, rather than prescribing it. That is to say, the people that use a language shape what is acceptable and what is offensive. This is judged to be more appropriate than having an authority, like the OED, create a list of rules and forcing speakers to abide by them. To put it simply, prescribing grammar is placing the horse before the cart.

Words that do not promote violence or hatred towards another person or group of people are not illegal. For this reason, death threats and hate literature are illegal in most democracies, while the F-word is taken for what it is: a word.

The only problem with Mr. King?s decision is that it does not go far enough. In Friday?s editorial, it was suggested that the F-word is alwasy offensive when used in public, because it ?offends the public morality?. This is a common argument used when a repressive agenda needs to be furthered. An institution, (In this case ?the public morality?) is created and it is argued that the ?institution? will suffer if we allow certain supposed indiscretions. The reality is that the individuals who comprise the public are not made to suffer if these indiscretions are committed. No harm comes to anybody when the F-word is used by another. And the reality is that the ?Institution of Public Morality? does not exist. I don?t see it listed in the phonebook, anyhow.

By making the F-word illegal, Bermuda?s judicial system makes the word even more powerful and more offensive than it really is. So it is in the best interest of everybody to drop this antiquated law. My hunch is that the power to arrest for uttering the F-word is used for exactly the reasons outlined in your editorial: to round up people who have done nothing wrong but that the police consider a nuisance.

The law is simply a tool of the state to further its agenda of creating a fear of authority in the general public. Despite everything I have written however, and while we could all review the decision, and talk until we?re blue in the face, I think I could sum this all up by paraphrasing a school ground rhyme: Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

The men in the shadows

August 3, 2004

Dear Sir,

I?ve been waiting for something to happen. For a week a month or a year, with the blood on the ink of the headlines and the sound of the crowd in my ear.

You might ask what it takes to remember when you know you have seen it before, where a government lies to the people and a country is drifting to war. There?s a shadow on the faces of the men who send the guns to the wars that are fought in places, where they business interest runs.

On the radios, talks shows and TVs you hear one thing again and again, how the USA stands for freedom and they come to the aid of a friend. But who are the ones that they call their friends these Governments killing their own. And so the people that find that they can?t take anymore pick up a gun, brick or a stone. There are lives in the balance ? there are people under fire ? there are children at the cannons and there is blood on the wise.

There?s a shadow on the faces on the men who fan the flames of the wars that are fought in laces we can even say the names.

They sell us the President the same way that they sell us our clothes and our cars. The sell us everything from youth to religion, the same time they sell us our wars.

I want to know who the men in the shadow are, I want to hear someone asking them why? They can be counted to tell us who our enemies are ? but they are never the ones to fight and to die!

I dedicate this passage to everyone who understands what is being said and in memory of the fallen Hero and Legend Ernesto (Che) Guevara.

Dr. Brown and taxis

July 10, 2004

Dear Sir,

Dr Ewart Brown is solely to blame for the prolonged chaos of the taxi-GPS dispute. He is just the latest example of a medical man who should stick to what he knows best. How to keep us healthy and alive.

He need go no farther that his own party for a good political role model. The Hon. Reggie Burrows, a veteran of many years in the House, knows more about how to get along with people than ever seems likely by Dr. Brown.

Dr. Brown handled the taxi situation with the stamp of a born dictator.

Besides, he is wealthy. By contrast, taxi owners have to work long hard hours just to make a living. They receive enough indifferent support from Government without Ewart Brown getting into the act.

Taxis are a vital necessity for thousands of us, including tourists and all those who depend on them to be able to carry out their daily lives.

Few of us can traipse around in a high-powered far-too-big free luxury Government car like Ewart Brown does.

Taxi owners should not be forced to pay any part of the GPS machines. If Government would slash some of the flab that fills its incredible $750 million budget, we would not have this impasse. Paring the budget by a mere five percent ($37 million) would not only provide enough to absorb GPS costs, there would be more than enough to provide Bermuda?s 7, 000 seniors with liveable pensions instead of the shabby pittance we receive.

How many taxi fares must the owners forfeit to pay for even half the $1,500 to $3,000 Dr. Brown insists they must pay? Take a ten-dollar fare, for instance. It could result in an owner losing revenue on something like 225-475 fares. That?s a lot of lost time, miles and money.

Another thing. Computers are heavily involved in GPS. What happens when they break down, as surely they will? Ever more chaos, of course.

Would Dr Brown exchange his lucrative medical practice to sit behind the steering wheel of a taxi for hours on end in all kinds of weather just to eke out a bare living? You can bet he, of all people, would not.

As Minister of Transport, Ewart Brown should be trying to unravel the horrific jungle of Bermuda?s roads. If he is doing anything about it, I certainly have not noticed.

Bermuda?s taxi drivers are often described as our best ambassadors, and rightly so. Dr. Brown would do well to remember that. I know visitors who come to Bermuda annually and reserve the same taxi to meet them at the airport when they return next year.

Mr. Lee Tucker and the owners have presented their just case with goodwill, patience, logic and dignity. They must not be silenced by the dictatorial assault on them by Ewart Brown.

There simply must be a far better way than Dr. Brown?s of dealing with this or any dispute.