The word stupid is getting plenty of usage this week. First it was President Obama in Wednesday night's news conference, calling the Cambridge Police stupid for the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Tonight it's the top dog at Amazon, who says the company he leads was stupid for going into some customer's Kindle electronic book readers and taking back books by George Orwell, of all authors, that they had paid for (refunding their money too). In the former, the charge of stupidity was in an allegation aimed at someone else, while in the latter the finger was pointing back at the accuser. Not very often we hear corporate folks admitting they screwed up royally, yet that's often the excellent advice PR people give: when you've made a mistake, admit it and move on...even when there may be a fair explanation for your actions.
Amazon did just that, while the Cambridge Police are defending the arresting officer. Even if the professor was being verbally abusive, couldn't the officer understand Gates anger at being handcuffed as a thief by police in one's own home, especially because Gates as a black man would know how profiling works, and especially since the officer has reportedly taught new officers at the academy how to avoid racial profiling in the first place? 
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