To The Editor:

Last week, while in earshot of a six year old, I used the word “stupid” — not to describe a person, but to describe an object. The child quickly admonished me by telling me that “stupid” was a bad word that we shouldn’t say. I responded by saying that the child was absolutely correct and I apologized.

A few days later, I was catching up on some back issues of the Newtown Bee, when I read a letter from Derek Pisani, an elected representative in our town. In that letter, Legislative Council member Pisani, somewhat bizarrely switches to third person (as though narrating from his own letter) to call his constituents “stupid.” Such is the disdain of this character “Derek Pisani,” that it’s not just common “stupidity” from which he believes his constituents suffer—it’s “gross stupidity” and a “magnitude of stupidity” that “is incomprehensible and needs to be addressed.”

My first thought upon reading his letter was that Mr Pisani could benefit from speaking with a child about whether calling people “stupid” is acceptable behavior. My second thought was that you’d have to be pretty darn … uh, “lacking in political savvy” … to call your constituents nasty names if you want to be re-elected.

Wendy Leon-Gambetta

Newtown