On best behavior
On the FBI's dirty tricks, asymmetrical fights, and why decent people have to behave better to make their arguments heard even though there's nothing fair about it
Among the more disgraceful activities of the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover was the project to intimidate and harass Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through a smear campaign conducted via the mail. One letter went so far as to imply that King should kill himself over marital infidelity.
■ This isn’t a tale of malfeasance specific to the FBI (though it should remain a severe cautionary tale about the dangers of a law-enforcement agency led by a dishonorable chief). It is instead a tale about human nature. Specifically, it reminds us that malicious people may be guided by ill will, but they know the value of moral authority.
■ Moral authority matters. Bad-faith actors know that if they can diminish the reputational standing of their opponents, they might not have to face an argument or a debate that they would otherwise lose on the merits. There’s not a thing new about this: It’s an ancient tactic to try to discredit the speaker rather than rebut the argument. And it’s a one-sided tactic, since people of goodwill would rather fight and win an argument on fair terms.
■ This asymmetry means that decent people have to do something beyond having the right argument; they have to keep their noses clean. This is not fair, nor proportional, nor just. But it is a fool’s errand to think otherwise. If you are truly in the right on an important moral question (like King on civil rights) and you want to prevail, then you have to mate good arguments with good behavior.
■ No one can maintain a perfect standard, of course, so it is up to decent people not to hold leaders to impossible standards (especially since the cynicism of assuming “they’re all crooks” gives undeserved cover to the truly bad people). We also have to consciously distinguish between behavior we don’t like and behavior that actually discredits an argument. But, no matter how unfair it is, those seeking to advance worthy causes have to adhere to the highest standards they can, no matter how low their opponents may go.
