Last week I was talking to a friend of mine and he asked me if there was anything going on with the Brunswick Human Rights Task Force. You might recall that the task force was formed after several situations were reported where people were allegedly harassed. The Town Council, wanting to stay in front of any problem, discussed what to do and then formed a group to study the issue.

My conversation also came on the heels of the reported finalization of a lawsuit that was brought about due to bullying and harassment in the School Department. Bullying, we were told, had no place in schools or in any part of our lives. We should demand that we are free of all types of bullying.

Being that we just concluded a grueling 18-month election for President I wondered what our town’s leaders on boards and councils might be saying about the election. It is no surprise that Brunswick leans heavily toward the blue side of the political spectrum and therefore I anticipated some irritation with the outcome of Tuesday’s election.

What I found in looking at the public comments from our officials and those who sit on boards and committees is that, for some, bullying and demeaning comments run amok. Unlike the information that came from WikiLeaks, I did not need a Russian middleman;

I did not even need the online expertise of my 13-year-old. No, I just entered people’s names into social media sites and saw what they posted publicly.

I have no desire in shaming the people for their comments so I will not post the names of the individuals with their comments, I merely believe that if you feel strongly that bullying is wrong then you should live up to that standard.

In fact, most of the comments I read were boilerplate. They were calls for people to, “fan the embers of optimism.” Certainly, as devastated as this person must have been at the outcome of the election, they were using their energy for good.

For all the goodwill stemming from that one comment, then there was yet another official who implied that the election was akin to Kristallnacht because it was supposedly trending on social media. Of course, Kristallnacht was the night in 1938 where thousands of Jewish owned businesses and Synagogues were destroyed by Nazis in Germany and scores of German Jewish citizens were killed. Using such a highly charged comment after a relatively peaceful election seems the height of hyperbole.

The same individual who invoked the persecution of German Jews sought to compare an assisted suicide measure in a western state with a perceived national suicide we were committing by selecting our next President. Comparing these two very different situations should give someone pause but, the comments spilled out.

On another positive note, an elected official called on others to become more involved. Prompting civic engagement is always a worthy goal. For another official though civic engagement can only be had if you fit a certain narrative. This person praised the comments of another who proclaimed that, “the rednecks are going to become …disenchanted.” Slightly pejorative don’t you think.

Some of the most heated comments came about from an ardent anti-bullying advocate. This individual proclaimed members of the Trump family to be “little mini daddy wannabes.” This person further stated in a shared post that America hates women. And not to be outdone, this person also made clear that if you have any friends who are not white and you voted for Trump that those friends must be told that they do not matter to you.

Clearly these comments all step over the line of poor taste at best and bullying at worst. Never mind that these comments do not help in any way to bridge the divide that most voters felt on election night.

The most egregious comment came by way of a shared post. The comment was, “worst day in America 9/11 2nd worst day in America 11/9.” Now stop for a moment and consider what is being said here. After the loss of almost 3,000 people, an election of a new President was the worst event in American history. Forget Pearl Harbor and her 2,400 killed. Forget the battles at Gettysburg, the Argonne Forest, Antietam, the Bulge. Forget the assassinations of President Kennedy, President Lincoln or Martin Luther King, Jr. Dismiss all the difficult and awful events that we as a nation have had to pull through and remember that electing someone you may not agree with was the second worst day in our history.

Engaging in behavior that many see as bullying does not help to make your argument. Making assertions that are not backed up by facts also work to destroy your arguments.

As contentious as the election was we all need to remember that life continued for all of us on Wednesday morning. Life will continue for us for the next four years. And if that is not cheery enough for you, someone is bound to throw their hat into the ring for 2020 by the first of the year.

That’s my two cents…

Jonathan Crimmins lives in Brunswick and can be reached at j_ [email protected]