Is Harassment of Public Figures Acceptable: Your Sincere Opinion

[Javaman]

Reading the OP reminded me of a Richard K. Morgan book I read many years ago: Altered Carbon. This was long ago, before it became a Netflix series. The quote is from one of the characters (Quellcrist Falconer) in the book, so I don't know if it actually reflects the author's personal beliefs. Nonetheless, it resonated with me.

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"The personal, as everyone’s so fucking fond of saying, is political. So if some idiot politician, some power player, tries to execute policies that harm you or those you care about, take it personally. Get angry. The Machinery of Justice will not serve you here – it is slow and cold, and it is theirs, hardware and soft-. Only the little people suffer at the hands of Justice; the creatures of power slide from under it with a wink and a grin. If you want justice, you will have to claw it from them. Make it personal. Do as much damage as you can. Get your message across. That way, you stand a better chance of being taken seriously next time. Of being considered dangerous. And make no mistake about this: being taken seriously, being considered dangerous marks the difference - the only difference in their eyes - between players and little people. Players they will make deals with. Little people they liquidate. And time and again they cream your liquidation, your displacement, your torture and brutal execution with the ultimate insult that it’s just business, it’s politics, it’s the way of the world, it’s a tough life and that it’s nothing personal. Well, fuck them. Make it personal."

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The end part is probably the most pertinent: "... it’s just business, it’s politics, it’s the way of the world, it’s a tough life and that it’s nothing personal. Well, fuck them. Make it personal."

People like Sarah Huckabee Sanders have chosen to enable the evildoings of the Trump administration to great personal gain. I have no sympathy whatsoever if they are called to account, even in the most petty of ways, when average citizens seize the opportunity to do so.

Don't like being called out as an asshole in public? Then stop being an asshole in your public role.