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Jesup, Georgia 31545

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

75

How to survive living in the glass house

My Opinion
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One of the most uncomfortable places to reside can be in the glass house of a public figure. I know. For 42 yearsas a journalist Ive lived inside transparent walls. Is it easy? Not always, but thats the career Ive chosen. What is a public figure? For the answer, attorney David Hudson, an expert on such matDINK ters and the First Amendment, NeSMITH referred me to Gertz v. Robert Chairman Welch, 418 U.S. 323 (1974). There Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell opines: The communications media are entitled to act on the assumption that public officials have voluntarily exposed themselves to increased risk of scrutiny. But you dont have to be an elected official to be a public figure. Appointed officials qualify, too. Even a private citizen can evolve into a public figure, by becoming a gadfly, openly and often expressing his or her views. My high school principal was a public figure, and he wasnt bashful about speaking out. I heard C.E. Bacon saymany timesI may not agree with what you say, but I will fight to my death for your right to say it. Later, in college, I learned he was paraphrasing Voltaire. The Constitution protects free speech from one extreme to the other. Thanks to talk radio and the Internet, the First Amendment has been juiced with steroids. As a result, public figures are easy targets for venomous outbursts. Ask one of the most notable public figures in Georgia, Mark Richt. Following the miraculous victories over South Carolina, LSU and Tennessee, the coach couldnt be praised enough. But after Saturdays Missouri hiccup, he got to see the mean-spirited underbelly of those disgruntled in the Bulldog Nation. Depending on the score, with the flip of a switch, his throne becomes a hot seat. Hiding behind the wall of anonymity, the growlers get uglyreal ugly. Is that fair? According to the Supreme Court, it doesnt have to be fair. That comes with living in the glass house. The laws make it very difficult to libel a public figure. Does it hurt when people say hateful things about you? Of course, it stings, if you let it. The late Farnell OQuinn once consoled me when I was getting skewered. He said, Thats why God gives you

As a public gure, I get plenty of fan mailelectronic and otherwise. Heres an excerpted example from last week: I disdain you and just about everything you write you ignorant stupid b****** you God, I dont like you!

two earsone to let it go in and another to let it go out. Thats a light-hearted way to look at it, but its not that easy for children when they hear hurtful things about their parents. I always told our kids that their classmates were just mockingbirds, chirping what they heard at home. The late Ferrol Sams, noted author and Fayette County physician, had a novel comeback to his critics. Once under fire in his hometown, he was quoted in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution saying, A man is judged by the stature of his enemies. I wish more of mine had been giants rather than ****ants. You never got the last word on Sambo. If I had let every unsavory barb hurled at me fester, Id be an ulcerated wreck. Recently, Ive been called a political lackey and an imbecile. So, since 1971, Ive seen the good as well as plenty of the bad and the ugly. Still, I sleep well in the proverbial glass house. I concentrate on the good to plump my pillow. However, a survival strategy is beneficial. The key element is willpower. It takes willpower to consider the source of criticism. It takes willpower to get over ugly attacks. But most of all, I rely on willpower to simply move on. Taking advantage of Farnells two-ear advice helps, too.
dnesmith@cninewspapers.com