If you haven't seen HBO's WWII miniseries "Band of Brothers", you haven't seen one of the best -if not the best- miniseries of all time. It's the story of one of the companies of the 506th Infantry Regiment that made the invasion of Normandy (D-Day), told in the perspective of several of its members, one of them being Richard "Dick" Winters.
Winters is first seen as 2nd Lt in the miniseries, under the orders of 1st Lt Herbert Sobel (who makes Captain in the very first episide, before D-Day). Winters is respected by the entire company (and even the other companies of the batallion), whereas Sobel authority is largely questioned. Due to reasons not relevant to this entry (and avoiding spoilers as well), Captain Sobel is transferred from the company and with a few exceptions, is not seen again until the end of the series. At that point, he is still a Captain, however Winters is now a Major and outranks him, which is quite amazing considering he was below Sobel at the beginning of the series. In one of the final and most memorable scenes of Band of Brothers, Sobel and Winters coincidentally meet at a German field. By this time, Sobel is clearly resentful of Winters, and his resent is even bigger when he sees Winters' golden oak leaves. Sobel walks by Winters and instead of saluting him, he simply says "Major Winters", which is known as an offense to a superior officer. Winters knows Sobel is resentful of him, but he also knows respect of authority goes beyond feelings towards the person, and what he does next is nothing short of amazing:
Winters couldn't be more right: you salute (hence respect) the rank, not the man. This rules applies in several situations and contexts, including the Chain of Command of the United States Executive Government.
The reason why I bring this up is because this video was brought to my attention today, in which a reporter (with somewhat of a muslim accent) standing up, inquiries to Trump about him having the right to ask a question. Trump quickly dismisses him and gives the right to speak to another reporter. The Muslim-American reporter, still standing, then insists on Trump giving him the right to a question and then proceeds to make several statements about the deportation of immigrants. Trump then orders the security personal to remove the reporter from the room. A lot of people over the internet have sided towards the reporter -mostly due to everything that has happened during the last days-. On this particular ocassion, I cannot side with him and I cannot side with the majority of the people, siding with him.
As distasteful and disgraceful, and as much as I hate the fact that Trump is our President, I can't condone the behavior of the reporter who wants -and sort of, demands- to ask a question. Like it or not, Trump IS the United States President, and like it or not, you have to respect the rank (even if you do not respect the man). If the President doesn't give you permission to speak, you cannot keep talking at him, because that is more disrespecful and doesn't improve the situation. Plus, he's standing up like in a defying stance, so that doesn't help either.
We can make fun of President Trump, disagree on his views and actions, and even go as far as not respect him as a person. What we definitely cannot do, is not show respect for the figure of the President of the United States of America.
The only thing I'm not sure about is whether if the video is from these past days, or if it is from Trump's campaign. Even if it was from Trump's campaign (meaning Trump hadn't become President yet, hence held no rank), it's still disrespectful to keep talking to a someone who hasn't given you the right to speak. This country has a lot of freedom and a lot of liberties, but one thing that we really have to keep in place at all times, is respect.
