The ethics of silence and the ethics of speaking up

Editor's note: Cheryl Russell was born and raised locally and currently resides in her hometown of Dover. She earned associate's and bachelor's degrees as well as numerous post-baccalaureate college level courses. Her major work experience includes investment banking, teaching high school and more than 30 years with the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Her patriotic roots and love of America run deep; her ancestors arrived in this country before the Revolutionary War, fought in the Civil War and have served in every major war since. Her op-eds will appear in The Rochester Voice on an occasional basis.

In this current Orwellian social and political climate of vitriolic vengeance created by the Democratic leadership and the calls by their supporters in the media to purge and deprogram conservatives we must ask, "How can this dangerous trajectory be reversed?"

First, we must NEVER condone or accept violence for any reason whatsoever. Secondly, those fostering propagandistic newspeak must be exposed and held accountable. Thirdly, each one of us must speak up against the liberal media and the Democratic Party Leadership to end their efforts to silence and eliminate the conservative point of view, or as the Democrats propose, "purge" and "deprogram" all Trump supporters. "In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." (Martin Luther King Jr.). With those three principles in mind, consider the ethics of silence and the ethics of speaking up.

After Joe Biden referred to the violent thugs and Trump supporters as Nazis, I was drawn in by a reference I found on the Internet to the author, Elie Wiesel. "He is a Romanian born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and a Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps. He once said it is impossible to find the correct words to describe the Holocaust and that may be the best way would be to find the greatest actor to appear on the world's stage and just remain silent." [prsay.prsa.org/2018/02/27/the-ethics-of-silence-and-of-speaking-up/]

Remaining silent is as unethical and harmful as stating outright lies or the censorship by Big Tech and the media to suppress speech. Silence allows everyone to suffer and allows human beings to be treated cruelly while fostering a divisive and aggressive environment. "The world is a dangerous place not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." (Albert Einstein).

We must NOT remain silent. We must speak from our hearts, state the truth, be fair to others and remain loyal to ourselves and our values. We constantly hear in the conservative media and from our Republican elected officials that the Democrats have double standards - one standard applies to the Democratic Party and their supporters while another higher standard is applied to Trump and his supporters. One House Representative stated on Fox News that if Democrats did not have double standards, they would have no standards.

The ethics of speaking up must include stating the truth. We must honestly admit that Donald J. Trump is not a perfect man. No one is perfect. At times President Trump behaved in a bullying boorish manner. If you wish to be credible, it is up to you to search out and debunk purported lies attributed to President Trump. If Trump is guilty of stating a lie, we must be willing to acknowledge that truth. We can speak up in support President Trump and, at the same time, acknowledge any potentially false statement of his or his boorish bullying behavior.

If we are to be respected and credible, we cannot display the so-called "double standard" of which we accuse the Democrats. We support Trump because he is NOT a politician; he kept his promises to America; and has given the Middle East hope for peace. That is our strength. We can rest assured that the level of Trump's purported "lies" never rose to the level of a threat to our Constitutional Republic as have the lies of the Democrats in Congress or their propaganda arm, the mainstream media.

Joe Biden has behaved poorly; committed plagiarism; unfairly sent an excessive number of black men to jail with his Criminal Reform Bill; was mentored by KKK member, Senator Byrd; was a party to spying on the Trump campaign; lied about his knowledge of Hunter's business dealings; and, he has been on the wrong side of all foreign policy decisions during his 47 years of government service. He also is guilty of speaking a multitude of lies.

If we are to gain credibility, we must not only speak up with high ethical standards but also never apply a "double standard" to the opposing political party. Let us hold ourselves to the highest moral and ethical standards while demanding truth and casting aside the rot of injustice to drain the political swamp.

Ethics and greatness are on our side if only we find our voices. "As William Faulkner once said, 'Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world ... would do this, it would change the earth."