THE OVERLOAD OF TRASH TALK AND VILE LANGUAGE . . .

. . . and Esther Sutofsky’s claim of “Don’t blame me.”

In any political campaign there are bound to be some charges and counter-charges made by both sides that are “over the top.” There has been a difference, though, both qualitative and quantitative, in this year’s campaign for UCO positions.

The other day I went back through what remained (they seem to have deleted some) of the worst of the trash and vile language on the “My Village Blogger” blog, the blog begun last April by Gary Olman and Olga Wolkenstein. I told several people it was like walking through a pigsty. You need to step outside for a breath of fresh air every few minutes.

At the forum last Wednesday, Esther Sutofsky disassociated herself from the contributions of others on this blog. At the same time she insists that Dave Israel IS responsible for the content on the “Our Village in WPB” blog. How convenient!

Perhaps a little history is in order. Both blogs began with the stated intention of letting anyone participate, so for all intents and purposes both blogs were essentially “public blogs” in the beginning. In time the blog administrators of both blogs removed certain posts and comments—and bloggers. The de facto situation for some time now has been that each blog, for the most part, represents one or the other of the two Village political “camps.”

This has been the reality now for many months. If you believe Esther’s claim that she is only a “guest” on the "My Village Blogger" blog, you need only look at the banner on this blog to conclude there is more to it than this. Esther’s picture is prominently displayed, followed by the statement “This is Esther Sutofsky, our President Select.” This is hardly a neutral blog! In such a situation I contend that you DO bear some responsibility for what your supporters say when they engage in such an overabundance of vile talk and foul language, and you do not disown it.

I agree that Dave and Esther should not be held responsible for everything on their respective blogs.  It’s the continued extreme vileness on the "My Village Blogger" blog that makes it so reprehensible. To me, the worst of the lot have been the blog posts by Olga and “Eduardo,” which I believe is the pseudonym for Ed Ross. But some of Esther’s blogs, too, have had their share of vileness. Here is one example:

We now have our own tinpot dictator who is so desperate to hold onto his power and to ban free speech that he will use physical threats and intimidation to get his own way and keep his power. Why is he so desperate for that? Is there something that he needs to hide or is he just a piece of human trash not fit to be our president? Delegates, do you want to live in the only USA community that lives under a dictator who will stop at nothing to remain in power? Where do we go from here - black shirts, brown shirts, men with armbands, sticks, clubs and guns? ––Esther c/a 11/13

Here, for your interest, is what Don4060 said on January 16, 2014 about Esther's statements on the "My Village Blogger" blog :

As a homeowner who is not personally aquainted with you, my opinion of your candidacy is based solely on your public statements, and I find many of your statements objectionable or ill-considered. Just now, in this thread, you said "amen" to a supporter who described the UCO President as a "Neanderthal", then you yourself referred to him as a spy. In the range of epithets hurled from this blog, underneath your name and picture, those were pretty tame, but inappropriate nonetheless. Your candidacy has been criticized, by myself and others, but how many times have you been called a bad name? Has anyone ever called you a Nazi, or a spy, or a thief, or worse? And there has been much worse. The name-calling is wrong, and it should stop.

I do not know how many residents read the blogs. I understand Dave’s "Our Village in WPB" blog gets a good number of “hits” every day. I suspect Olga’s "My Village Blogger" blog gets far fewer. I have had several people tell me when they scanned through her blog for the first time, they couldn’t believe how vile it was. I have a friend on Cape Cod whom I keep in touch with by e-mail. I said to him, “Bob, to understand what I mean, just have a look at this blog.” Now Bob is an old army buddy, and he has seen about everything, but even he was stunned by the sheer volume of foul language and vileness on this blog. Here is what he wrote back:

. . . for once I am speechless. The dynamic duo of Olga and Edwardo [sic] are masters of profanity! If Esther were by some quirk become elected president, she would have to create some department to make use of their skills .......

So I would ask: Are these the kind of persons you want to be running UCO? Do you really think they are going to change if they get in office and become all sweetness and light? I believe Esther DOES bear some responsibility for what has been voiced by others on the "My Village Blogger" blog. I hope that on Friday, March 7, she and her team will find themselves voted OUT.