(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Either Character matters or Nothing Matters. [1] ['Greg Dworkin', 'Meteor Blades'] Date: 2026-07-17 The other day, even maybe this week or last, someone shared a clip of Francesca and Emma in an answer to me on the Platner thread and I told them, I like Francesca even when I don’t agree with her more than 50% of the time but something about Emma I just didn’t dig, she just rubs me the wrong way. Now I do know Emma didn’t realize the import of her comment, but that’s also part of someone’s character, how you navigate yourself when you’ve been caught dead wrong and after a brief “oops my bad” still feel the need to “justify” your error, because you see it wasn’t actually an error, I wasn’t really wrong, etc… etc… etc… Now I know why. I know she’s been an activist and all that but to me this? This is no different than Hegseth saying empathy isn’t necessary. If anyone stance is that “I don’t care what someone does in private even if they are a naz* as long as they do the right thing in public” is a horrendous take. You are not on my side. See, I think people have fallen into a mode of all or nothing that’s detrimental to our world and lives. It is one thing to know someone is an ashole and decide well I’ll hold my nose and vote for them anyways because there’s really no other choice, by which to be crystal clear I mean after primaries. It is quite another to say well this person is an anhole but I’m going to promote hime, advocate for him, downplay his faults and make him seem palatable. Stop endorsing candidates in and for themselves, embrace politicies and chose the candidate closest to yours, if his character don’t work out, move on to the next one down the line. Pretend you’re at a supermarket and they are out of your favorite brand of milk but you need milk, buy the next best milk you like. We have lost our way a lot of us anyhow, I don’t know if it’s stress, fear, or a combination of things but we need to come back from the brink. Remember 47 didn’t give rise to more racism, sexism and bigotry he just made it okay for people to be what they were in private… in public. To show their characters. If a person’s character doesn’t matter, what does? Because the problem is, you gotta to be able to trust a person, that’s why you have sayings like honor amongst thieves, that’s why you can admire someone you disagree with on policy like Massie or Kinzinger or even John McCain. A person’s character matters, it’s what you hang your trust on. And contrary to Emma Vigeland, Emma Vigeland knows this. That is why she distanced herself from Platner after the rape allegations, a rape that was done at home Emma, away from prying eyes Emma, so if you truly believed a person’s action behind close doors did not matter “as long as they said/did the right thing in public” why denounce Platner? Because you know it matters I shall tell you why you are all over the place over this though, it’s because you can’t admit you were wrong, full stop. You ridiculed, mocked and taunted folks for pointing out problems with Platner, you are embarrassed in Haiti we have a saying for that “Fè lawont sèvi kòlè” Use shame to elevate anger. You, always on about Gaza (rightly) and Black folks, transpeople, and other minorities, opened your mouth today to say that “if someone was privately a nazi you don’t care”…. Let it sit and simmer with you Emma. How are we minorities to trust you, cause obviously if someone was a racist at home it don’t matter to you either now does it? And what does that mean for Blacks like me? How about bigots at home who throw their gay or trans child out? Can the LBGTQIA community count on you? Can women? Children? Who can count on you Emma if Character doesn’t matter? #TheAmericanHaitianPoet Muriel Vieux – July 17th, 2026 – ©All rights reserved Paypal.me/murielvieux (got 85$ need about a little over 100 to make it the rest of the month) [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/7/17/800071242/community/either-character-matters-or-nothing-matters/ Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/