18 thoughts on “R.I.P., Neil Alan Smith”

  1. Wow; what a remembrance. It puts the naysayers in their place, too. I can only hope my obit reads half as well as quiet, simple Mr. Smith.

    Thanks for the link.

  3. the good die young while the stupid keep being stupid. R.I.P MR SMITH one of the good ones.

  5. That was a heart-wrencher, wasn’t it? It’s so easy to drift through life without seeing the Neil Alan Smiths. I was a dishwasher, a trailer dweller, a Marlboro smoker, a Bud drinker. I’m eight years older than he was and a whole lot luckier, is all.

  6. Yeah. But for the grace of God (or fill in the blank), there go we all. Between that story and the one about Tyler Clementi, I really don’t feel too good today.

  8. Tears should be shed for Mr. Smith, but I do believe that some of these tears were those of a crocodile, and shed only in front of a newspaper reporter. Did you catch where Mr. Smith’s boss at the Crab Shack said “…he was like family to us”? This would be the same boss who paid his “family” member minimum wage for ten years, and with no chance of a Christmas bonus. Where’s Charles Dickens when you need him?

  9. This is a Charles Dickens story. This whole friggin country is becoming a Charles Dickens story. From the St. Petersburg Times:

    “…Shortly after the St. Petersburg Times announced Mr. Smith’s death on its website, a reader posted a comment stating the following: A man who is working as a dishwasher at the Crab Shack at the age of 48 is surely better off dead…”

    So when will the Three Ghosts visit us?

  10. My god khal, did someone really say that? Is that really a comment taken from the paper?

    I think everyone contributing to this blog, including our gracious host, has said it, in so many words, at some point in time: we are all well and truly fucked… How, in dog’s name can we change this kind of thinking?

  11. Andrew Meacham wrote the obit. The article Patrick linked to says that indeed was an actual comment.

    Believe me, I’ve seen far worse. When the Santa Fe New Mexican and Honolulu Advertiser sold their comments sections to Topix, the worst of the worst would post the most acrid statements under pseudonyms or anonymously. I stopped posting or even reading the online editions as it just drove me nuts. For one thing, these papers (with apologies to the New Mexican’s former reporter Patrick) knew damn well that when they sold their comments to Topix, given Topix rules, they was going to see the intellectual content of the comment sections circle the bowl.

    I’m glad the St. Pete’s Times reacted the way it did.

  12. How to change it? For one thing, do away with anonymous comments. Then all we will have to worry about are the professional shit disturbers like Rush Limbaugh and Carl Paladino. Its up to us to call these people on their BS.

  13. Khal,
    The local fishwrap is definitely not immune to mouth breathers on their comment section but they had the shear stupidity to actually post a story about the fact that they were wondering if the comment section was a good idea. And if so, should they allow to continue anonymous (i.e. “not my real name”) posts. I haven’t seen anything since then – and it has been a few months – but as much as I post on their website I could care less one way or the other. There is an old maxim from talk radio: how much value should one place in an anonymous comment? I figure if you’re not going to state your name (or an identifying name) then your ‘opinion’ is worth the effort it takes to type in “SuperMom78” as your screen name. Which is to say…it is worth squat.
    Thankfully the St. Pete Times had an editor who took down the offending remark as it is nice to see that this job has not been out-sourced to Mumbai. My only fear though is that this starts to cross the “I have a write to free speech” argument. Naturally it does not if you logically reason it out. But Dittoheads and mouth breathers don’t usually know that. As I had to explain on Facewhat to somebody: you have the right to voice your opinion, but that ‘right’ ends when it infringes on my ‘right’ to not be insulted. In other words, I will fight to the death your right to speak, but if you’re just going to spout some ignorant, venomous hate (like there is any other kind?) then I have the right to either call you on it….or ignore it.
    And from years of dealing with people voicing their ignorance I found that the easiest, less stressful way for me to deal with it is to let it go.

  14. James,

    I too most offen choose to ignore it, but when we do, we give the asshats carte blanch to continue. My dad used to say the best way to deal with a bully is to stand up to them.

  15. Also, James, the local fishwrap doesn’t have any obligation whatsoever to print anyone’s screed, anonymous or otherwise. What was that expression? Freedom of the press is guaranteed to those who own one. Damn, I forget the exact quote or he who made it. Sorry.

    I really long for the old days of “letters to the editor”, which were not accepted without a real name, and only published if the letter passed the laugh test of the editorial page editor. That screened out a lot of the garbage that should only be muttered in the local bar.

    If anyone wants to spout what they will, subject to the libel and antiterrorism laws, let them set up their own blog.

  16. Whereas I agree with what James has to say in principle, there has been a time or two that an anonymous post or letter taken seriously could have potentially benefited our community. We had a corrupt county commissioner here during the oil and gas boom who actually owned an energy services company. He took actions as commissioner that were financially beneficial to himself (and detrimental to the county taxpayers), but he was smart enough not to leave anything in writing. Since I was working at the county at the time I, and many others at the county, knew what he was up to; however, anyone dumb enough to actually say anything publicly could count on retaliation of some sort. In my case I had no proof nor did I wish to be blacklisted in my field (geology). He got away with it all. So what is a potential whistleblower to do when any anonymous posting or letter is automatically disregarded?

    And to those folks who stomp and cry about their “right to freedom of speech”, the 1st Amendment states that the government can take no action to infringe on your freedom of speech, it doesn’t say anything about your employer, the newspaper, or anyone else taking action to shut you up.

  17. Driving to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta at 5:00 AM Saturday morning and observed at least 10 riders out early…riding on the shoulder…and not a bit of reflective gear in sight. Several had headlamps, which may have helped them miss the potholes and goat’s heads, but you just couldn’t really see them until you were right up on them. Not sure why people don’t ride to be seen!

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