Sunday, October 28, 2007

wrongful conviction

I think one of the most difficult things to deal with in the world of politics is the way people will believe rumors as if they are absolute truth.

Twice now I have been convicted of doing something I did not do.

First, a council member blamed me for a negative story about her that was published in a newspaper I used to work for her. She believes that I got the reporter to write it and nothing I say or do can convince her otherwise.

Now a reporter for another paper thinks I am going around trying to get people to write negative stories about her. She thinks I'm trying to convince people from her own paper to write these stories. It's absolutely absurd, but she's so convinced it's true that she's going around town saying that I'm running a smear campaign against her.

This also is not true, but nothing I say or do can convince her otherwise.

Again, it's a lot like high school.

But the weirdest thing is that these two individuals are liberals who would be outraged if a murder were convicted without a fair trial. But in this weird, backstabbing, he said/she said world of politics, it's all perfectly normal.

What can you do?

4 comments:

MAWG said...

DLTBGYD

jferg said...

I think this is my biggest issue with the world of politics (and in many cases, the world in general): I expect people to behave rationally, logically, and sanely, and to have progressed beyond 3rd grade emotionally...and it seams they haven't.

jferg said...

I think this is my biggest issue with the world of politics (and in many cases, the world in general): I expect people to behave rationally, logically, and sanely, and to have progressed beyond 3rd grade emotionally...and it seems they haven't.
(It also seems I can't type. Sorry for the double.)

Applecart T. said...

wow.
a lot of life is apparently like bad highschool.
have they told you where they got those rumors? (i'm sure not. would betray something or other.)
sucks to have to second-guess whether it all started just to bug you or because someone is actually sensitive to it or because there is some other motive.

when you got your job, i was happy for you and a little jealous (not personally, but from the standpoint of, "wow, what a great job") but it was only a few minutes before i thought, "wow, that would be really scary and exposing and stressful for all the wrong reasons."

i once seriously considered becoming a councilperson's aide, and now, well, we're not really even on speaking terms. isn't that weird? (also, i pretty much knew i'd go crazy in politics. everything is politics, of course, but IN politics it becomes a huge looking-glass mire.)