“It’s not often I get upset, but there are some things that are just plain wrong. And, to sit silently by is, in essence, to be morally complicit in the act itself.”
That’s how I started an article I wrote twelve years ago. Talk show host Rush Limbaugh had viciously attacked Sandra Fluke, a young woman who had the guts to share her opinion on birth control to a congressional committee.
On air, he called her a “slut” and “prostitute." That was so mean-spirited and unnecessary. It was meant to silence her and other women on this issue. I couldn’t stay silent then; I still feel that way.
It said a whole lot about Limbaugh’s character—or rather lack of it. After all, what kind of person deliberately maligns and minimizes other people? Especially for his/her own benefit.
That’s why I’m so tired of one of our presidential candidates defining his opponent with words and phrases like low IQ, vicious, nasty, mentally impaired, dumb as a rock, crazy, and more.
It’s disrespectful at its core.
Or, how about describing immigrants—both legal and illegal—as vermin or animals with bad genes. And spreading lies about them attacking cities across the country. This diminishes them as human beings, spreads hate, and leads to violence.
Again, it’s about a person’s character. People who truly care about others don’t do these kinds of things.
As a mother, if someone verbally attacked my child like this, I’d be up at the school in a nanosecond raising holy hell.
If my child was the perpetrator, he/she would have to apologize immediately—and publicly if it was done in front of others. Plus, there’d be other consequences to ensure it didn’t happen again.
Yet we excuse this kind of behavior in a presidential candidate? Or we laugh at it?
To me, a person’s character is crucial, perhaps even more important than their positions on the economy, immigration, healthcare, the environment, and just about everything else.
It’s all about how you treat people. Because we’re a nation of people. Because we need to work together to solve the challenges facing our country and the world. So much more is possible when we can do that.
Character truly matters!
