When a person is given a high place in society — a government leader, for example — that individual is held to a higher standard than the average person. And if that person has class, he will accept the responsibility of that higher standard.
Barack Obama once challenged a fellow Chicago senator in a back room after the man attacked him verbally in an address on the floor of the Senate just minutes before. While president, Obama’s mic was left open and he was later ridiculed for what he said. The president restrained himself once he became president. He did not reply to most of the ridicule.
A similar incident happened during the Presidential election in the United States when an old tape emerged that contained remarks about women made by Republican nominee Donald Trump. The tape went viral and his political enemies accused him of many things because of the statements he made.
It is safe to say that Mr. Trump’s words will eventually fade away now that he has been elected to America’s highest political office. President Trump will most assuredly reform his verbiage on any future remarks he may make.
But now we get closer to home. We read with dismay an account written by Everton Elliot or Obi. We consider Obi a friend and our first response was to spring to his defense. But we decided to deal with it in an editorial for a wider scrutiny by our readers.
Obi is a major blogger on the Internet. He has over 5,000 friends and about the same number of followers. On the day this happened, Obi was defending himself against a post reportedly written by the Hon. Mark A. Brantley, Deputy Premier of Nevis and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Team Unity Government in St. Kitts.
We are not going to go into the unfavorable things Obi claimed Mr. Brantley said about him on the Internet. Brantley holds two high political offices in the Federation. He aspires to be Premier and Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis. We’re not sure in which order Brantley plans to achieve these powerful offices.
But when a person achieves a high elected political office, he is expected to conduct himself according to the decorum that high office holds. And Brantley has no call — absolutely no call whatsoever — to be attacking a private citizen on the Internet, even if that person says unkind things about him.
When you hold a high office, you must be held to a higher standard. It is as simple as that. Ironically, people who are paid from the public purse sometimes find themselves bruising those very taxpayers on the Internet either by using their own name or an assumed name.
The Hon. Vance Amory understands this and has never found himself in such a situation. Mr. Amory has nothing bad to say about anyone, either on or off the Internet.
We strongly encourage Brantley and others to follow Amory’s example. It’s called high style and it is part of holding a high office in government.
Premier Amory’s demeanor is so pious that many people call him Reverend.
