Now, we want to have productive conversations. We want to be able to converse with local leaders. But if these people are dismissive jackasses, then what is the point? All you are doing for a politician when you give them a platform and don’t challenge them is becoming a conduit for their stream of bullshit. Politicians, by and large, are lazy liars who are giddy with the little bits of control they are given over other people. It’s why most people are so depressed by politics.
As reported by the Lee Enterprises-owned Daily Urinal, this is the bizarre, semi-coherent rambling statement made by Forysthe after announcing the 3 percent tax on recreational weed at the February State of the County: “We’re gonna turn around and hopefully put this back into the school system because this is where the money should go back. If the adults are dumb enough to smoke, then we need to figure out how we can prevent the kids from not doing what their parents did. And I’m hoping this will do that. If I don’t do this.”
So, let’s break this down. It literally sounds like some Joe Biden-rambling nonsense. Technically, in the critical part of this, the double negatives “prevent” and “not doing” would logically mean: We need to encourage kids to do what their parents did. If you “prevent” somebody from “not doing” something, then you are encouraging them to do something. So, the mayor is saying, and the daily urinal is publishing, the statement that logically means: Encourage kids to smoke weed like their parents do. Which makes me wonder: did the Mayor have a couple of drinks before he gave this speech, or does he simply not understand how English grammar works? The statement ends with “If I don’t do this” and it’s unclear what he is referring to or whether the Urinal reporter didn’t finish his statement. Literally reads like any statement from one of the rare times our confused president goes on the record.
But okay, maybe I am being too petty about his down-home, country boy dialect. Let’s get to the business argument as to why the Mayor is a jackass for dismissing the idea of a responsible cannabis user. We have two businesses in our town that exist to serve cannabis users. More than that really, but only two that I know of that will be subject to the three percent recreational city tax. To have a mayor refer to all of the customers of these two businesses as “dumb enough to smoke” (disregarding the fact that many of these customers where the city will gladly collect their 3 percent tax are using vaporized or edible cannabis products) should make these businesses aware of the support they can expect from the embarrassing political class of this town.
Our county voters made their voice heard when we were one of the only rural counties who voted in favor of legalizing marijuana. Does the mayor think that every person in St. Francois County who voted in favor of Amendment Three is “dumb”?
The Mayor does not distinguish between a medical user who is consuming cannabis to keep their seizures at bay, or to give them relief from chemotherapy, or to help them wean off of dangerous highly addictive opiates used to manage pain, or to help depression-patients get away from xanax and other risky pharmaceuticals. To Forsythe, they are all “dumb enough to smoke” and deserving of his public scorn. The man is a jackass and this is how we will refer to him until he apologizes to cannabis users.
In fairness, the mayor did have some progressive comments about the homeless shelter that this publication can get behind. But, as a public figure, we can’t let you refer to every legal cannabis user as “dumb” without holding your feet to the fire. You jackass.
Here’s the original story, from the Daily Urinal.