Posted by Eugene Volokh: A Little Thin-Skinned, No? http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2006_07_23-2006_07_29.shtml#1153939307
The a href="http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_4091164";>Denver Post reports: [A] group of residents vow that [Greeley Councilman LeRoy Johnson's] comment in a recent public hearing about the women in Greeley's Cranford neighborhood will cost him his council seat. After a six-hour hearing on a proposal to give the Cranford area historic designation status, Johnson told a packed City Council chamber that the neighborhood had some nice homes, and "they have some pretty good-looking women who live there." ... [Johnson later] said he only wanted to "inject some humor into the proceedings." ... Greeley resident David Gutierrez said Johnson's comments and his past brushes with the law show a lack of integrity and judgment. Gutierrez will lead a recall drive against Johnson, who has said he is not going to resign from the post he has held since November 2003. "His comments insult every mom, wife, daughter and sister in the entire city," Gutierrez said, adding that paperwork for the recall effort should be filed by Wednesday. Johnson's past history (which includes fights that led to criminal citations) may well suggest a lack of judgment; and the remark doesn't show him to be particularly witty, funny, or even chivalrous. But how exactly does saying that there are some pretty good-looking women who live in a neighborhood -- or even implying, obviously facetiously, that this is a reason to give the area historic status -- insult moms, wives, daughters, and sisters? Or is it that moms, wives, daughters, and sisters who live in other neighborhoods are insulted at the suggestion that they aren't as likely to be good-looking? Councilman Johnson may well be a dunderhead, and one that Greeley residents shouldn't want representing them. But I don't see much value in the tendency (of which this is just one example) to turn every foolish statement into an alleged insult. _______________________________________________ Volokh mailing list [email protected] http://lists.powerblogs.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volokh
