RECENTLY, SOMEONE WROTE TO ME SLANDERING A FRIEND and working colleague with some very serious accusations but offering no evidence to back them up. I hope I don’t have to tell you that to accept someone’s slander of another human being without any hard evidence is a serious betrayal of their humanity and your relationship with them. People very often slander others for despicable reasons of their own and a little investigation shows that it was all just hot air with no genuine substance. Due diligence and substantiation are the least you can do for someone who has been slandered.

I quickly wrote back to the person doing the slandering and told him he’d approached the wrong guy if he thought I would be a pushover to believe his accusations, because I am a champion of truth and justice. I told him that unless he could offer proof, then he should be ashamed of himself and I demanded that he substantiate his allegations. He responded only with the words: “I am not ashamed. It is the truth”, but offered no substantiation whatsoever! Absolutely typical.

Sometimes, a person will slander another because of some not so serious mistake which was made in the past and which is regretted. A genuine mistake is not enough to try to destroy another human being. Mistakes are the shoulders that a decent human being stands on in order to see more clearly the next time. So why try to tear someone down for some earlier mistakes? We all make them. But slandering them is not the way that civilized people behave. Civilised people give each other space to stumble, make allowances for some mistakes and don’t throw it into the faces of others at the earliest opportunity.

There is little that is more unattractive than jealousy. Even less attractive is professional jealousy. From my experience, this is a very common problem in all walks of life. However, I think it is especially unpleasant to find it in fields involving the arts, where sensitivity, empathy, self-awareness, mutual appreciation and even love should prevail. Let it be known that I refuse to take on board any gossip or slander unless it can be substantiated with evidence and if it is in the public interest to expose it.

This isn’t the first time I’ve been approached on Facebook by some jealous individual slandering a friend or colleague. The love of so many is growing cold these days, while the mediocre (the Salieris of this world) try to maul the geniuses (the Mozarts of this world) in order to boost their own self-importance. Personally, I rejoice in the genius and accomplishments of others. The more accomplished they are, the more I rejoice! I revel in others’ excellence and willingly sit at their feet to learn more. Sometimes I even weep with joy to see someone do something well. Excellence is so very attractive and most people are far better at most things than I will ever be. May they thrive and prosper!

© 2015, Alan Morrison / The Diakrisis Project. All Rights Reserved. 
 
[The copyright on my works is merely to protect them from any wanton plagiarism which could result in undesirable changes (as has actually happened!). Readers are free to reproduce my work, so long as it is in the same format and with the exact same content and its origin is acknowledged]