Friday, 1 March 2013

Not the other Half


My uncle, who died several years ago, had a small shop selling household appliances in a small town in a rural district. He was involved in local politics and had been elected to the local council.
His friends and his party, the very same people, wanted to make the main street into a pedestrian area to make shopping more attractive. The other party in town was against the idea, arguing that people would not come shopping, if they could not park in front of the shops. There was a stalemate – there were not enough votes to pass the proposed project.
My uncle, who had a lively temper and was quite outspoken, was interviewed by the local paper. “Half the members of the local council are pure fools”, he stated – among other things.
Now, this was a bit offensive, also to his friends and fellow members of his party. Polite politics please! They put pressure on him and made him promise to publicly take his statement back.
He published a statement in the very same local paper:
In a recent interview in this paper I stated that half the members of the local council are pure fools. I regret  my harsh view and would like to apologise.  To make things clear, I hereby correct my former statement:

HALF THE MEMBERS OF THE LOCAL COUNCIL ARE NOT PURE FOOLS.

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