"Paz-Martinez, why are you defending this bureacrat? She has brought this upon herself, and, as a voter of her precinct, I will hold her accountable, PERIOD. This is not a public lynching. I am offended with your comments and demand an apology!" - Nora Lee Garcia
By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
The Paz Files
HARLINGEN, Texas - It was the deranged chicken fight of the week, women assailing another woman. Wild stuff, skirts aflutter. Politics sprinkled with a bit of hot salsa. Culture battling itself. Broad-on-broad. Mano-a-mano. Hair-pulling by way of bad grammar. Sweethearts thinking the absurd. Internet bullies run amok.
In a few harsh sentences, that was how Jerry Deal's blog - MyLeaderNews.com - ended the week in this falling town of some 70,000 fun-starved denizens. It wasn't party, but, then, whippings rarely are pretty, and even when they have a shot at being something special, well, here, the grass-whorled local brain just isn't up to the task.
The rock-throwers were essentially four ditzy female bloggers who arrived to post damning comments against local Justice of the Peace Sallie Gonzalez, a public servant who (Great Scott!)dared to ask for a raise in a regional environment that says $10 is way too much to pay for a blouse or a meal. This is not a happy town. This is a town ready to explode.
Brenda G, Darla, Daisy and Nora Lee Garcia are the names these roused bloggers offered when posting on Deal's rapidly-swooning blog. Their assessments of Ms. Gonzalez's on-the-job performance and her salary increase request - a lousy $12,000 - likely will next be heard on the Jerry Springer Show. Anyone need a sassy maid? Call Nora Lee Garcia, whoever she is.
A fair few of Deal's bloggers - commenters - have taken to the gutter in presenting thoughts on issues related to Harlingen or the Rio Grande Valley. Usually, they make some sense. And it had been the practice of Deal, a former Journalist, to somewhat monitor the submitted comments for the ridiculous, the inane and the unfair. He is no longer so concerned.
This much is true: The woman animated starts to shake. Her words crack as they ride the aging canyons of a weary brain. Those fingers used to performing nifty deeds like preparing dinner or holding the house cat betray her when the ire rises above the normal range. It is not that these women do not have a gift for speaking or writing coherent thoughts; it's just that Nora and Daisy and Brenda and Darla perhaps get off on dispensing crap via the Internet. How else do you explain their awkward, but insistent headfirst dive into the community cesspool?
Why else would these women dump on another woman with such vigor, as if caught in a trap, a vicious cycle of comic one-upsmanship, all of them victims of their own preposterous stupidity. This, boys and girls, is what defines the hysteric, and this is why I have placed these women at the center of this editorial. Oh, if only we had photos of this fearsome foursome? If only they existed? For sure, no woman of the Rio Grande Valley acts in this brainless manner, as if just home from the psycho ward, as if an emotional mess soon to require a series of colon washes. In the parlance of sports, they have taken the field of bullshitting and they have damned the band. Halftime will be Daisy and Brenda and Darla and Nora Lee piling on Sallie Gonzalez, the referee, one Jerry Deal, oblivious to the fouls, in his own way sanctioning the dirty play.
JP Gonzalez may be the "witch" these bloggers say she is. And she may not deserve a raise, a request she apparently has withdrawn. She may not be their kind of politician. She may not wear the same style of clothing or have her hair done in the finer salons. Fair enough.
But to merely condemn for condemnation's sake is wrong.
Campaign against Ms. Gonzalez. Unfurl her errors and foibles. Tell it all. Document and prove. Then, and only then, can you swoop-in as if on roadkill. This sort of foolish blogging helps no one and nothing. Intelligent discourse is not that difficult to attain. You merely sit at your computer keyboard and tell yourself the Inner Moron in you will not come out today. To date, from what I have seen, these four women - and there are some cowardly men on Deal's website, all arriving with single names or invented monikers, to, obviously, distinguish themselves from the high school and college graduates. If only! - have contributed piles to the city's sewer system, but precious little to the whys and why nots related to Ms. Gonzalez's service. Wanna vent? Scream into your toilet, but don't bring that crap into the public light.
There is so much information missing in this sad affair that to blame it all on these four misguided lasses would also be unfair. Jerry Deal bears a good amount of the blame. He is the reporter who came forth with a story so shallow that it had to yield the sort of bullshit he now sees on his once-respected blog. Such is the fate of blogs whose primary intent is to draw reader comments.
As for Daisy and Darla and Brenda and Nora Lee Garcia, well, given that what I have put forward here is directed largely to you, just know that it is because I wish to make you ashamed, not too much, but just enough...
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11 comments:
Cyber bullies is what these women are. No question about it. they wouldn't say those things to sallie's face, would they?
you're right of course. This Gonzalez lady may be a bad public servant but these dumb women on Deal's blog think they can stomp her with immunity. Good article.
You are determined to pick up a fight with these women. The last time I heard, people had every right to speak against political candidates who feel they're owed something.
I know Nora and Daisy, they are independent business persons who have successful enterprises, let me assure Sallie Gonzalez is not at their level.
ANON:...No, I'm not picking a fight with anybody. These women may be upstanding citizens in town, but they sure have a skewed idea of fairness. I admit I know little about Ms. Sallie Gonzalez, but my point goes to their unbridled whipping of this woman. And all with the protection of not facing their victim, not saying that to her face. If they claim a higher social status than Ms. Gonzalez, well, they should exhibit it. No one can confirm you a fool until you speak, without your permission. Their ridiculous from-the-bunker attacks label them as models of disjointed disgust. Yes, they have a right to speak up, to criticize, as do I. Funny how these critics see things differently when they are under the gun. Make your case, ladies. Just do it with a semblance of the class you claim, and not with the bluster of dim-witted comadres... - Editor
"I know Nora and Daisy, they are independent business persons who have successful enterprises...."
You know these ladies; so tell me, from what corners do they conduct their suck-cessful enterprises?
This is a rare moment in valley blogging when the commenters get their asses kicked. thank you, mr. editor. It was time someone did it.
At Gem's, this afternoon, there was talk of a possible candidate, master's accreditation in law enforcement, college educated, clean as a whistle, who say's if he runs it will be, a one time term, regardless.
Who by the way happens to be well known around town, and drinks coffee with the local commissioner's occassionally.
I kind of wish elected officials would think that way, one term, maybe two, certaintly not a life time.
anon: (You know the ladies,) I can assure you, their businesses, are above county debt collectors. Something you and a bereaucrat wouldn't know anything about.
It's not fair to criticize these ladies only. The stories about Judge Sallie Gonzalez appeared in the Valley Morning Star and the Brownsville Herald websites. Those forums, too, drew lots of criticism from folks other than these ladies. And the articles weren't written by Jerry Deal.
What I find disturbing is how many people begrudge the the JP for not being able to subsist on $44K. They characterize a request for any more as "greed." (Granted, the amount of the raise requested, $12K, is a disproportionate to the typical raises granted in public-sector work.) Commenters seem to ignore the fact that this JP brought in $750K in yearly revenue to be remitted to the County. Perhaps they'd be happier with a JP who brought in only $200K but didn't ask for a raise? When requests for a raise are met with such hostility, it serves as a disincentive for any public servant to go "above and beyond." It guarantees mediocre government, lack of efficiency, and a lack of results.
For a populatation who lives in a region where the only decent employment is provided by governmental entities, it also rings a bit hypocritical.
Lucius 72, one of the women who was criticized by the editor of this blog, stated that during this hard economic times, and the fact, that the county is getting ready to increase property taxes, didn't sit well with tax-payers.
There is more to this story than was written here.
And you are correct Jerry Deal, high-lighted an issue written on the local papers, and letters to the editor's pretty much reflected what Daisy, and Nora Lee wrote on several posts at myleadernews.
As far as losing incentative to do your work, as an elected official due to lack of pay.
Well, I would encourage any elected official, Him/her, to resign and seek employment in the private industry.
And you are so right, several blogs had articles, and responses were just a negative.
From what I gather, the editor of this blog went after 4 women, just to get back at Jerry Deal.
Olivia
MADAM OLIVIA:...Your angst-filled missive is way off. I never get back at Jerry Deal about anything, not revenge, as you want readers to believe. I have chided him on his WhiteWings coverage and I did chide him on the post about JP Sallie Gonzalez. The reason only the womens' names were used in my post is because, to their credit, they were the only ones identifying themselves. Deal had some guy named "John" no last name and some "...nockers" guy, both arriving pretty much anonymously to flail away unimpeded, the coward's way. I did mention them, however. You are dead right: there is much more to this story. Perhaps you can pass that on to Jerry Deal and to the four ladies mentioned in our story. You can't just beat up on people simply because you can. Blogs are notorious for that. I merely noted the unfairness of it all. You, on the other hand, would love nothing more than to see a woman you do not like (JP Gonzalez) pilloried and stomped into the ground. The four women got what they dished out, and it was correct to note it. BTW, there is no animosity here toward Jerry Deal. He ranked Number 3 in our assessments of RGV blogs. My advice to you: Get real and be fair. The facts are better aimed at a public official than are rumor and innuendo. Hang them with the truth, not the overly-emotional outrage you exhibit so freely... - Editor
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