TURN-ABOUT IS NOT FAIR PLAY. In 2014 a GOP congressional aide wrote a FB post criticizing President Barack Obama’s daughters. The post went viral. The aide later deleted the post and wrote an apology on FB and resigned as a congressional aide. On January 20, 2017 an SNL writer targeted President Donald Trump’s son with a nasty Tweet that also went viral. (Rosie O’Donnell posted a critical comment about Barron some months ago and later apologized to the Trump family. The Bush twins and Chelsea Clinton were also criticized on occasion). CNN’s Jake Tapper tweeted in response to the SNL writer’s tweet: “That it even need be said is ridiculous, but mocking the 10-year-old child of a politician you loathe is odious, immoral, & self-defeating.” Another FB post on the subject suggested “…had a conservative in the media or entertainment business said such things about Obama’s daughters, that person would have lost his or her job and faced serious consequences. Generally, presidential offspring are deemed off limits—but loudmouthed Trump critics are rewriting the rules of common decency in their attempt to insult the new administration.” TURN-ABOUT IS NOT FAIR PLAY.
LUMPING IS NOT FAIR PLAY. It is unfair to suggest that because an SNL writer does something despicable that all “Trump critics are rewriting the rules of common decency,” just as it is unfair to suggest that all persons who voted for President Trump are racist, xenophobic, nationalistic and misogynistic. It is unfair to lump all who did not vote for Mr. Trump as “opponents, enemies, losers, or Hillary flunkies.” It is unfair to lump all those opposed to your ideas as unpatriotic. It is unfair to lump all protesters as violent. And it is unfair to lump the media together as being wholly dishonest, just as it is unfair to lump all policemen into the category of being either wonderful or awful. It is unfair to throw all liberals into the same basket and just as unfair to throw all conservatives into one basket. LUMPING IS NOT FAIR PLAY.
WE ARE NOT ENEMIES—WE ARE FELLOW-CITIZENS. Since the beginning of our democracy, we, as citizens, have differed politically. We have argued since the first day of our founding as a nation and we have argued with great vehemence (which is par for the course in a true democracy where people are free to think, to believe, to act, and to speak out). But when we make “Turn-About” fair play and begin to “Lump” our citizenry into two opposing groups, we are hacking away at the very roots of America’s greatness. Do not ask me or others to “get over it” and “suck it up.” Why should I do that when I disagree? Why should you do it when you disagree with me? But I am a citizen (not an “enemy or loser”) and you are a citizen (not an “opponent”) and in this democracy we all have the privilege to stand freely and make our case. As soon as this freedom is withdrawn, the nation ceases to be a democracy, “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
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| Photo found on FB: "O my, O, my, what is happening?" |
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