All Together Now

An event does not become a scandal until politicians are using the event to score cheap points with their constituents. We can now call Ozzie Guillen's Castro flap a bona fide scandal:

The Chairman of the Miami-Dade Board of Commissioners has called on Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria to urge Guillen to resign.

In an open letter sent to the media on Monday, Joe A. Martinez said "there is no alternative that would be satisfactory" after Guillen's "I love Fidel Castro" quote in an upcoming edition of Time Magazine.

"To say you respect Fidel Castro, suggests he also respects dictators such as Hugo Chavez, Daniel Ortega, Adolf Hitler and Sadam Hussein," the letter reads.

It's got everything included in a paint-by-numbers umbrage kit: a proposed punishment that doesn't fit the crime, Hitler reference, and public shaming. But what is more shameful: Guillen's words about Castro, or using those words to make yourself look like the arbiter of common sense and protector of the people?

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Tilting at Windmills in Little Havana

Discussion of Fidel Castro and US-Cuba policy is where reasoned logic goes to die, but someone needs to point out the petty hypocrisy of a local anti-Castro group calling for the job of Ozzie Guillen. Last week, Guillen said the following about Cuban dictator Fidel Castro:

"I respect Fidel Castro," Guillen was quoted as saying. "You know why? A lot of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last 60 years, but that mother****** is still here."

I think we can all agree that this is a dumb and shortsighted thing to say in public, even if you do not manage a baseball team that plays its home games in Little Havana. But really, can anyone say with a straight face that Guillen's comment makes a lick of difference in the grand scheme of things?

The answer is yes, if you are Vigilia Mambisa, a group that plans to protest at Marlins Park and boycott the team until Guillen steps down. Never mind that the team and Guillen have both apologized for the statement (Guillen said Sunday "I'm against everything 100 percent... the way this man (been) treating people for the last 60 years"). He must be punished for saying something (a dumb joke, really) that goes against the official position on Castro held by civilized folk like you and me and Vigilia Mambisa.

But judging by their Facebook page (67 likes), and the fact that they don't even have a website, I'm guessing Vigilia Mambisa thought the Guillen controversy would be a dynamite event to exploit for their own publicity.  

But unfortunately for Vigilia Mambisa, freedom of speech applies to speech about Castro, as well. There is a place where people who speak freely and don't hide their opinions are punished, sometimes very harshly. It's called Cuba.

Irony is dead. Long live irony.

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