I gotta ask…
Who the hell is ghost writing for Steve Orlando these days?
Snidley Whiplash?
Steve has been Tigert Hall’s PR guy for many years under multiple UF Presidents. And as PR guys go, Steve has always been old school.
Which is to say that he believes his job is to impart information to the public. As a matter of style Orlando tends to be non-provocative, circumspect…you know…tactful.
Who, what, when, where, why and then put a 30 on it. (Old obscure newspaper reference there).
Which is why a recent UF news release “Attributable to UF spokesman Steve Orlando” (yeah, right!) comes as something of a jolt.
In response to the arrest of a handful of pro-Palestinian demonstrators on UF campus:
“This is not complicated. The University of Florida is not a daycare, and we do not treat protestors like children – they knew the rules, they broke the rules and they’ll face the consequences.”
And the statement “attributable” to Orlando included the obligatory “many of whom were outside agitators,” disclaimer because that’s red meat in this here Free Red State of Florida.
Maybe somebody in Tigert thought Orlando needed a PR 101 refresher course. You know, the one titled “PR For Authoritarians Made Easy.”
But it’s more likely the statement “attributable” came right out of The Great DeSanitizer’s “We own the libs” propaganda shop.
Listen, the anti-Ron has been chomping at the bit to crack down hard on Florida demonstrators like they’re doing in Texas.
Because our Great DeSanitizer has Texas envy big time.
And when protestors erected a tent city on the Plaza of The Americas, stormed and occupied Tigert Hall and physically attacked Jewish students…
….oh wait, they didn’t do any of those things.
No matter. They broke rules.
We now know that UF isn’t a day care, protestors aren’t children, and many agitators are outsiders.
Let’s put a 30 on that.
FreeGNV 