Have You No Decency?
Guest Editorial by Deborah Rose
Have you no integrity?
Have you no humanity?
These questions are intended for the gossips, deceivers and bullies among us who are worse than thieves because they steal the dignity, honor, reputation and credibility of people, characteristics that are impossible to fully restore once someone has been targeted.
Rod Gramer of Idaho Ed News wrote an editorial titled ‘“Have you no decency” applies to Brent Regan’. To make his point, Gramer made a comparison between Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy and Brent Regan.
Gramer shared how after years of smearing innocent people successfully, resulting in destroying hundreds of lives and careers, McCarthy targeted the United States Army. In response, the Army hired Joseph Welch, a well-known and competent attorney, to defend itself against McCarthy’s baseless allegation. McCarthy had accused the Army of having weak security at one of its top-secret facilities.
This brand of character assassination is known as McCarthyism, defined by The American Heritage Dictionary as:
1) The political practice of publicizing accusations of disloyalty or subversion with insufficient regard to evidence;
2) The use of methods of investigation and accusations as unfair in order to suppress opposition.
McCarthyism is being practiced by many today.
Welch responded to McCarthy by saying: “Until this moment, senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness...Have you no decency?”
Gramer pointed out how like McCarthy, Regan and his associates demonstrated cruel character assassinations expressed publicly toward two principled Community Library Network trustees.
No good citizen’s reputation is safe with bullies who are willing to spread gossip and lies like a virus throughout our community. These people have forsaken the fundamental shared precepts and behavior of civil society and the Republican Party. Such people build walls and cause harm rather than building bridges and healthy relationships.
We know this because a large group of Republicans felt a need to establish an alternative outlet to the ways the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee majority and its loyal associates conduct themselves.
Despite Regan’s churlish demeanor and unjustified bashing, my experience has been, this alternative organization, North Idaho Republicans (NIR), is where Republicans will find an environment of civility and respect, traits many have found lacking when they sought to engage with Regan, the KCRCC majority and its loyal associates.
NIR’s goal is to encourage us all to be productive citizens. They want to encourage folks to be well-informed, discerning and civic-minded.
Regan and his people have sought power through domination, bullying and manipulating facts to suit their agenda. What this crew sadly ignores is that real power comes from extending respect, kindness and civility, personal characteristics that will draw others to us as they aid in building bridges, strengthening our communities and nurturing sound social experiences.
After reading Gramer’s editorial, I was reminded of a story I was told years ago called “Pieces of Paper”. Here’s the story.
Once upon a time, an old man decided to spread a rumor that his neighbor was a thief. As a result, the young man was arrested. Soon the neighbor proved his innocence.
After being released from jail, the young man sued the old man for wrongly accusing him. During his appearance in court, the old man told the judge, “What I said about my neighbor were just simple comments, they didn’t harm him.”
Before passing a sentence on the case, the judge told the old man, “Write all the things you said about your neighbor on a piece of paper. Cut it up into little pieces; on your way home, throw the pieces of paper out of your car window. Come back tomorrow to hear your sentence.”
When the old man returned for his sentence the next day, the judge told him, “Before receiving your sentence, I want you to go out and gather up all the pieces of paper that you threw out of your car window yesterday.”
The old man responded, “I cannot do that!” The wind spread the pieces of paper; I won’t know where to find them.”
The judge then replied, “The same way does gossip and lies spoken as “simple comments” spread. Such words spoken will destroy the honor of a person to such extent that an innocent person will not be able to restore their reputation.”
When your feet slip you can recover your balance. When your tongue slips, however, you can never recover your words.
Through their mean-spirited behaviors and deception, the gossips and bullies among us deny others their basic human rights—specifically, their freedom and respect. As with an out-of-control wreaking ball, their mission appears to be to destroy what is good. It must be so intoxicating for them to leave a pile of wreckage in the wake of their attacks.
We may not be able to induce bullies and predators to emotionally or spiritually evolve. What we can do is expose the bullies’ tendency for deception, withhold engaging with them, and to not repeat their blatant disregard for facts.
About the Author
Deborah Rose is Kootenai County resident and former Kootenai County Republican precinct committee official.