Reading the Tribune Friday morning, two articles resonated on the same chord.
First, the disturbing story of University Hospital nurse Alex Wubbels’ arrest for refusing a Salt Lake City police officer’s demand that she ignore the law and hospital policy and allow him to draw blood from an unconscious patient.
Next, Barry Lynn’s Washington Post op-ed, recounting Google’s heavy-handed efforts to have him fired from the anti-monopoly think tank he co-founded. His transgression? Lauding the European Union for penalizing Google’s monopolistic practices.
Abuse of power is the obviouscommon chord. In both cases, the more powerful actors chose to eschew civil discourse and procedure, jumping instead to draconian means to silence and remove the watchdogs standing in their way.
More troubling still were the online responses to this article. In both threads, several commenters expressed opinions amounting to, “Just shut up and do what you’re told.” I’m not sure when, exactly, we became a society ruled by bullies. Perhaps, to some extent, it has always been so.
I do know that sheep-like defenders and enablers of the bullies-that-be deserve a large portion of the blame. Hats off to Alex Wubbles and Barry Lynn for standing up for justice and civility on behalf of us all.
Robert Hammer
Salt Lake City