“A
professional is someone who can do his best work when he doesn't feel like it.”
Alistair
Cooke (British-American journalist)
First, I want to be clear that I am aligned with the causes that each of these individuals felt the need to protest, but completely disagree with the manner in which each chose to do it. Their actions showed a lack of maturity, social decorum and professionalism, and these things have never been more important than now, when we have a President who completely ignores them.
First, I want to be clear that I am aligned with the causes that each of these individuals felt the need to protest, but completely disagree with the manner in which each chose to do it. Their actions showed a lack of maturity, social decorum and professionalism, and these things have never been more important than now, when we have a President who completely ignores them.
I would like
to discuss each individual event and the reasons for my disagreement because
each one pertains to a different, but important, point.
Let’s start by
discussing the Hamilton cast’s protest. A cast member told the crowd that Mr.
Pence was in the audience and that they had a message for the VP-elect: “And
Vice President-elect Pence, I see you walking out, but I hope you will hear us
just a few more moments. There’s nothing to boo here, ladies and gentlemen.
There’s nothing to boo here. We’re all here sharing a story of love. We have a
message for you, sir. We hope that you will hear us out.”
First, I
applaud that a cast member tried to dissuade the audience from booing,
and stated that this was not a personal repudiation, but a plea for
diversity and inclusiveness.
Two,
Mr. Pence deserves credit for waiting in the wings to listen to their message
and later adding that he was not offended as a supporter of free speech, but
that he would “leave to others whether that was the appropriate venue to say it.” (Source: Washington Post).
Now
to my point of disagreement:
there was an argument thrown around in the mainstream
media, in the cast’s defense, saying that theater has historically been a venue
for protest and dissent. This is true; but it conveniently ignores
one vital fact – that protest has always transpired between the curtain’s
rise and fall and not after the performance has ended.
Shakespeare
often used his art as a powerful weapon for dissent, but always constrained his
message within the substance and subject of his play. I am not aware of a single
instance in which he or his cast showed up after curtain call to give the Queen or King of England a lecture.
The cast
also failed to respect the fact that Mr. Pence was there as a private citizen,
accompanied by his niece and nephew, and not his capacity as an elected official.
This was not the time or place to raise their protest.
I have similar issue
with the way in which Sally Yates (the acting Attorney General) behaved.
To be clear, I fully
agree with Ms. Yates stance against President Trump’s ill-conceived travel ban
and do not believe such a ban will help make
America safer. My issue is with the way in which she
took action. The professional thing for her to do would have been to resign on
moral grounds.
Ms. Yates admits as much
in her internal letter. She states that the legality of the order was not in
question; it was cleared by the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), whose job is to
rule on legality. She goes on to say that her main issue was a moral one,
driven by “…statements made by an administration or it surrogates close in
time to the issuance of an Executive Order that may bear on the order’s
purpose. And importantly, it does not address whether any policy choice embodied
in an Executive Order is wise or just.” (Source: “Letter from SallyYates” via NYTimes).
Ms. Yates had every
right to protest the order by resigning, but it was reckless of her
to refuse to fulfil her job responsibilities. More
worryingly, she signalled to all Justice Department staff that they too were
free to disobey direct orders from the President based on personal whim, rather
than compel them to always act professionally and follow the correct channels
and protocols when in disagreement.
Morality is a grey area
and that is why in a professional setting such behaviour sets a dangerous
precedent. We must consider the
flip side of government employees taking unilateral
action. For the short period that President Trump’s travel ban was in effect,
there were reports of US Customs agents detaining people not covered
under the order. Like Ms. Yates, these men and women also justified their
unprofessional behaviour as a moral obligation to protect the nation.
For this reason we must
never defend Ms. Yates actions, or those of the rogue customs agents; both
failed to live up to the level of the professionalism we must demand of all
elected and non-elected officials. In a democracy we must always use the courts
and the many other systems of checks and balances we have to fight when we
disagree, but must never circumvent them or make exceptions
(even when we are right) because this is exactly how civilised societies
collapse.
This brings me to Colin
Kaepernick. I care deeply about the cause he has been protesting and have
researched and written about the gross inequality that exists between Blacks and Whites in
America,
even today, one hundred and fifty plus years after slavery was abolished.
Kaepernick is fighting
to bring awareness to an important issue,
but his chosen method serves to alienate and divide
people because he has gone about it in a wrong-headed fashion. The issue for me
is not whether he is disrespecting the flag or people who served, but
that his actions were unprofessional.
When Kaepernick and his
fellow players put on their uniforms, they cease being private citizens and become professional
representatives of an organisation, who are being paid a salary to perform a
job. Sports fields and offices are not places for personal protests and
must never be used as such, no matter how worthy the cause.
Just imagine if everyone decided
to take the same liberty and start using the professional environment to
protest personal causes.
That said, there is nothing
stopping Kaepernick from using his off-field celebrity to raise awareness for
this cause. He can and should use his star power to gather support and get
people involved in finding solutions, but never feel like he has a right to do
it while wearing the uniform, or at the office, where he is just one member of a team of
professionals.
And we must never
justify or condone someone’s actions based on the weight of their cause or our
agreement with it. What is at issue in all these instances is not the moral
weight of the cause, but
the preservation of the rules that govern and protect
our way of life.
Adherence to these rules
is solely what underpins the health of a free society. For democracy to
thrive everyone needs to respect the rules and maintain a
level of professional decorum.
At a time when we have a
man who ignores all of these rules, occupying the highest office in the land,
it is even more important that we set the example for our children and lead the
way, never lowering ours principles or high standards.
The
future of American democracy depends on it.
It's hard to strive for higher standards when the one in charge has debunked all professional and ethical standards. But just as other past presidents who have created imaginative theories to favor their oppinions and needs, so too must the people commit to higher standards and hold others accountable, even the fearless leader. As for the future of America, well it just like it's always been, how to manipulate power and as we have seen in our last election, no on in power wants to loose their stakes in the contest.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to strive for higher standards when the one in charge has debunked all professional and ethical standards. But just as other past presidents who have created imaginative theories to favor their oppinions and needs, so too must the people commit to higher standards and hold others accountable, even the fearless leader. As for the future of America, well it just like it's always been, how to manipulate power and as we have seen in our last election, no on in power wants to loose their stakes in the contest.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to strive for higher standards when the one in charge has debunked all professional and ethical standards. But just as other past presidents who have created imaginative theories to favor their oppinions and needs, so too must the people commit to higher standards and hold others accountable, even the fearless leader. As for the future of America, well it just like it's always been, how to manipulate power and as we have seen in our last election, no on in power wants to loose their stakes in the contest.
ReplyDelete