Legend says the decadent and ineffectual emperor, Nero, played the fiddle while Rome burned in AD 64. That was “fake news.” He was at his villa; the fiddle hadn’t yet been invented. He did, however, play the tibia utricularis, a form of bagpipe, with which he led his armies into battle. It appears there is enough hot air among our politicians to make a full-fledged pipe band ready to lead citizens and taxpayers into a lose-lose battle on this stadium deal.
Perhaps you have heard of Hanlon’s razor: “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” As a usually cheerful, but mildly paranoid, observer, I find it harder to credit this particular folly to stupidity. Also from Rome comes a perennially fresh question: cui bono? (literally “to whom is it a benefit?”) — a Latin phrase about identifying crime suspects.
We already know the biggest suspects for this proposed crime against those who have surgeries cancelled, can’t summon ambulances or find affordable housing, have to send their aging parents to care homes at the other end of the province, and worry every day about our empire burning — literally. One begins to suspect there is more going on behind the scenes to which we are not privy.
Dear council: cui bono? Certainly not the citizens of this province.
Elinor Benjamin, Dartmouth
