Harassment Culture

CNN anchor Chris Cuomo went viral this week. Not for breaking journalism, however.

Mr. Cuomo was heckled while out to eat with his family. Not nice. The reporter let his hecklers know how much they pissed him off. He was called Fredo, a reference to Fredo Corleone, the eldest Corleone brother. Fredo was not respected nor given positions of power by his family.

At one point, Mr. Cuomo argued that an Italian being called Fredo was equivalent to the N-word. While that is debatable, there’s no question that the hecklers wanted to piss Mr. Cuomo off. The reporter, as part of his job, dabbles into politics and has criticized President Trump and his supporters many times. He is a big target for hardcore right-wingers.

Regardless of your side, politicians, reporters and other public figures have to expect to harassment. It’s not right or desirable, but it’s the way it is now. While Mr. Cuomo’s hecklers were right wingers, the Left is plenty guilty.

Last summer, Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters told supporters to “get out and create a crowd. And you push back on them (members of Trump’s cabinet). And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.” She had “no sympathy” for members of the administration.

Unlike Rep. Waters, I have sympathy for those harassed in public. Civility is gone from American politics. Yeah, yeah, I know the argument that desperate times call for desperate measures. I get it- when the government is doing shitty stuff, you need to push back.

In the age of Trump, I don’t see any crises being solved. Rather, opportunists use politics to harass, censure and destroy their opponents. Morals are invoked, emotions are stoked and rage flies. But after the dust settles, we are worse off than we were before.

There will be more incidents like this, more and more frequent. Right now, the powerful are mostly being targeted. The average American will be brought into it, sooner or later. The justifications will roll in, from both sides.

“Oh we have to do this! We must! Don’t you care about the children? The environment? The country?The other side deserves it! Be on the right side of history.”

Don’t listen. I didn’t know harassing people in public automatically put you on the right side of history. Good to know.

Look at results, not rhetoric. What changes or is improved because some people get harassed?

The vast majority of the time, not much.

Drastic times call for drastic measures. I agree wholeheartedly.

It is not time, yet. Hopefully these right-wingers and Maxine Waters get the message.

Originally published at https://theprimacyofpolitics.blogspot.com.