As children, people are taught basic rules that can apply to any age group: Don’t hit, clean up your messes and share.
You learn these things and other similar edicts because they all fall under the proverbial Golden Rule, the cornerstone of polite society that seems to be forgotten more and more often these days: Treat others as you’d like to be treated.
The Columbia City Council members seem to have tossed these rules out the window, according to The State.
The story follows a pledge put forth by Mayor Steve Benjamin, a tenet of which urged the council members “to refrain from engaging in name calling, insults, demeaning or inflammatory remarks.”
That sounds an a lot like what we learned in kindergarten.
The State cites the council elections of 2013 and the strong-mayor referendum that followed as the start of these issues, but isn’t that what a City Council is supposed to do? If they can’t get through basic, necessary functions, what does it say about the people Columbians have chosen to lead?
Councilman Moe Baddourah called Benjamin a “bully,” and Councilwoman Tameika Isaac Devine called Cameron Runyan a “rogue councilman.” They haven’t descended into exchanging physical blows yet, but that doesn’t mean the “don’t hit” rule can’t apply here — attacking someone with words is just as bad, if not worse, especially in a situation like this where the people in question are involved in politics.
It would be all too easy for a future voter to do a Google search on Runyan, and the words Devine spat out in anger could come up. How damaging might that be to his career?
For that matter, what is it going to look like to constituents for their mayor to be called a “bully”? The word has entirely negative connotations. People aren’t going to be as likely to vote for someone with name like that attached to him, even if it was just said once.
We learn at a young age that our words have consequences. Not only are these squabbles potentially damaging to the individual council members, they’re also frustrating for the people of Columbia.
Surely, we deserve a City Council that can actually get things done without fighting.
It seems like everyone just needs a timeout. Or maybe a nap.
— Brianne Garbutt, third-year journalism student