'You accused me of all kinds of stuff that I didn’t do'
'You all were terrible towards me. I’m just gonna say that.'
“You all were terrible towards me. I’m just gonna say that. You accused me of all kinds of stuff that I didn’t do,” Fayneese Miller told reporters. “I got beat up in the media…”
The President of Hamline University, Which Fired a Professor for Showing Students Paintings of the Prophet Muhammad, Has Resigned
The controversial incident is now the subject of a lawsuit against the school.
Before I take you a little deeper, I’d like to point out something very, very important.
People don’t always feel that the media, as a collective or a part of it, gets the story correct, factually and with nuance and truth. Sometimes those who suffer because of that reporting or talk show communication are accurate in their assessments. It’s not just an emotional reaction.
What stood out most strongly to me in the story referenced above is when Miller said, “You accused me of all kinds of stuff that I didn’t do.”
It’s deeply painful to people, and be found offensive, to be falsely accused and condemned because of such falsehoods.
I don’t claim to know all the facts of this particular story. That’s not the focus.
Instead, let’s look at harm that can be ignited and burn people and their reputations, jobs, finances, careers and mental health. Sometimes the court of public opinion, which includes print and broadcast media, can get it wrong. Social media can get it wrong. When this happens, the people being talked about get unjustly devastated.
Here are two additional comments Miller made that are worthy of examination
“I hope as you report on my retirement that you will also acknowledge that you’ve been reporting on a false narrative.”
False narratives can inspire anger, resentment and bitterness or they can result in depression. People are affected differently and react — and later respond — based on the emotions, perceptions, past experiences, psychology and conclusions that drive their impulses or more reasoned action.
Regardless, knowing that a false narrative is thriving and people are believing it and judging you as if it is fully factual, rich with truth and thus is assumed solid evidence and proof, can crush a soul or inspire it to vengeance.
“I’ve been chomping at the bit to tell the story. But I know I’ll get in trouble if I do.”
Being restricted by force or better judgment and not being able to communicate the totality of the facts to defend oneself is additional hardship. Being silenced for feeling as though a person must silence themselves to protect their well-being is to feel controlled and mistreated, maybe even abused.
Again, I don’t know the reality of this situation and story that inspired this article.
What I can say from a reputation standpoint is there might be times in your life where you have to stand strong, take punch after punch to your life and have no one step in to help or want to help by standing with you in opposition against wrongdoing that has and maybe still is taking place.
Yes, attorneys can help sometimes or maybe regularly. Not always. Family, friends and colleagues might help, might not help or be unable to do as much as is needed.
This is when we have to dig deep to access (it’s there, somewhere) the strength to survive, endure and problem solve, with our circle of support or if not them, trustworthy, competent, committed professional assistance.
Michael Toebe writes “Reputation Notes” and is the founder at Reputation Quality, a practice that serves and assists successful people and organizations in further building reputation as an asset and responsibly, ethically protecting, restoring or reconstructing it.