This column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared on BrooklynReporter.com, the Home Reporter and Spectator dated Septemeber 23, 2022
Feeling aggrieved over being held accountable for one’s own actions has become the new norm for many in today’s world or politics. When somebody makes a mistake or does something wrong, and then acts as if anyone who mentions it is unfairly attacking them, is yet another example of the projection we so often see, where somebody deflects responsibility from themselves by painting anyone who expects of them of being at fault.
This projection is a form of disinformation that has been perfected by the Republican party’s leader, Donald Trump. Whatever Trump is guilty of is what he accuses others of. This tact has become pervasive among conservative politicians. Within the Republican party, strict adherence to this mindset tends to lead to political excommunication from the GOP.
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) is as conservative as any member of the House on policy issues. Her opposition to women’s reproductive rights, strengthening voting rights, addressing climate change, and lowering prescription drug costs, along with her efforts to repeal Obamacare, are terrible stances, but positions that are the standard in the Republican Party.
However, Cheney’s vocal choice to not only accept the realities and reject the lies pushed about the 2020 election and the January 6th insurrection are not policy positions. They are simply choices to accept truth over disinformation. And for that, she became a pariah in today’s Republican party and lost her reelection bid, which was assured before she chose to speak out against what are dangerous lies.
Cheney believes everything that the GOP stands for on the issues, but when it comes to conveniently disregarding politically inconvenient truths and assailing whomever questions you for doing so, she did not believe in doing that, which means the GOP can no longer abide her. Opinions on the issues will vary, but reality and truth should not be similarly subjective.
“I hate f***ing Brooklyn.”
Vito LaBella, Republican nominee for State Senate District 17
Here in New York City, the Daily News reported on Monday, September 19 about a Republican candidate for state senate in Southern Brooklyn after the reviewed video of him disparaging the borough of Brooklyn. In a video that Vito LaBella made from his other home in Cape Cod, he said, “I hate f***ing Brooklyn,” adding that he wished that he could stay on Cape Cod.
The piece also contained LaBella’s response when the reporter had asked him for his comment about what he had said in the video, in which he stated that he was frustrated with Democrats in the city and then plugged his campaign for state senate. LaBella went on to respond online, apologizing for what saying he effing hates Brooklyn, continuing with a long list of all the things he should have said, which all centered on Democrats being the reason Brooklyn is a place that he was forced to say he effing hates.
Before 2019, I was represented in the state senate by a Republican who I disagreed with on almost every issue, but I never thought or said I hate my hometown because of that. Nobody makes someone else say they hate Brooklyn. It is a choice to use such a harsh term about the place where you live.
This is, however, the typical response on the right, that it was somebody else’s fault and that people who are much worse than me made me do the thing that I should not have done. In responding to the Daily News reporting, LABella referred to it as a hit piece, saying that “As Brooklynites, we know what’s up.” Again, a media outlet that simply printed the words he uttered in a video that he made was portrayed as the one at fault for doing something to him.
Being held accountable, for your own words no less, is not an attack. Asking if you would care to explain why you said something that you ultimately admit you should have never said is not gotcha journalism from the fake news, enemy of the state, evil press, as Trump likes to refer to our fourth estate.
People make mistakes, but non-aplogy apologies that attack whoever shed light on your mistake and blame others for what you did do not just show a refusal to be accountable. They reveal a disconnect with reality.
