There was a university professor who once shredded the norms of decency. He had poor impulse control, and often exhibited signs of abnormal hostility, particularly toward students. Sometimes this included verbal assaults; other times it was physical, especially with women. He had no problem calling students stupid; telling them they had low IQ(s); this was often done with a sneering facial expression. He punished students who were not loyal (who said they were going to report this behavior) with bad grades. A few fearless students reported him, and within months, he was fired, and this record of behavior was recorded permanently. I assume he never got another job again, nor did he deserve one.
I once reported a student to academic probation because she plagiarized, not once, but three times. She got expelled, and I felt this was justified; I never tolerated lying in the classroom (her denial).
My husband, who worked as a vice chairman in the department of medicine at a hospital, shared a story about a physician who was a womanizer on the job. This same doctor came onto me at a hospital celebration, and when I said, "Do you know who I am?" he said, "I don't care." I walked away. This behavior, which also had preceded his time at the hospital, was reported in a local newspaper, and he was subsequently terminated.
Words and deeds matter. We have watched the downfall of media personalities because of their terrible words and deeds. There is no way a CEO of a company would be allowed to stay at his or her job if that person verbally or physically assaulted a fellow worker--or many workers. Nor would a convicted felon be hired for any job whatsoever.
Yet, America, has elected a president (over 51% of the country) whose words and deeds would not be tolerated even in the lowest paying job. As a convicted felon, he was allowed to vote. Ordinary citizens have been thrown off of the voting roll for way less. He has committed crimes which will now be irrelevant, including retaining top secret documents which were required to be returned and being the bullhorn behind an insurrection. He has sexually abused women, and denigrated people of color, migrants, politicians, with a litany of disgusting words, even profanities. No company would EVER hire him, but now he will be our president. This public behavior is unacceptable in a civilized society, but I would think calling the qualified woman running against him stupid and ugly should not be tolerated--nor should he be.
Over the past few months we have witnessed the parameters of what is acceptable be destroyed. The WORDS of this man and his running mate (who called Kamala garbage) are so beyond the norms of decency, and such ugliness has transformed an electorate who now also find it acceptable to join in with verbal and physical indecency. He continues to threaten his opponents with jail time.
Yet over half the country voted for him, so this goes beyond the price of groceries and gas, which--by the way--is getting lower. This is about character. Our values demand we be moral and decent people. Is it moral to vote because you are a millionaire and want to be taxed at a lower level? It is not dollars and cents that propelled so many voters to cast the ballot for him.
Then what is it? I can not comprehend this America that selects a president whose words and deeds have proven immoral. What does it say about this country?
No comments:
Post a Comment