Not the public person’s private life or alleged corruption, minus specifics or evidence. Not when language is vile, being called thief who must be “barbecued” and fed to dogs.
Assault on a public person’s personal life, not on what he does or says of public concern, is what must wound deeply.
The kind that makes the public person rage as his child sobs out: “They say in school, papa, the radio calls you corrupt and power-drunk and you bed with another woman.”
To get even
That’s when the public person reaches for a Glock and spends all bullets on the media person. Or rains punishing blows and furious kicks on the offender.
All in the public person’s mind, of course. He cannot be violent without destroying his life, family, and career.
So he goes personal as well in press releases and news interviews, trying insults similar to the media person’s dirt and grime.
But he can never be as obscenely mean as the media person. He doesn’t have the skill or the gall.
And he doesn’t keep the microphone or the gallons of printer’s ink. How then does he strike back without losing dignity and sanity?
