NYC Mayor de Blasio wrong to encourage citizen tattling

By Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel

CHULA VISTA, California — I must make a confession: I do not like New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. And if you believe in the principles of the Constitution and the philosophy of the ACLU., neither should you. If we were watching an NBA basketball championship or the NFL’s Superbowl Game, Blasio’s latest video would qualify as an unforced error. Remember Walt Kelly’s classic newspaper comic strip featuring the character Pogo, who perceptively mused:  “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

If I were Mayor de Blasio, I would  post that statement on the door of my office. In a video posted to Twitter on Saturday, the Mayor encouraged his fellow New Yorkers to tattle on citizens who aren’t following social distancing guidelines by taking a picture of the alleged violation and texting it to city officials. In his video, he announced:

“Thank you to everyone who has done this the right way, but we still know there’s some people who need to get the message. And that means sometimes making sure the enforcement is there to educate people and make clear we’ve got to have social distancing. So, now it is easier than ever — when you see a crowd when you see a line that’s not distanced, when you see a supermarket that’s too crowded, anything, you can report it right away so we can get help there to fix the problem.”[1]

There is nothing wrong encouraging citizens in a positive way to follow the guidelines for social-distancing and handwashing as most of us as community leaders do every day. It is quite another matter to ask people to tattle and shame people to the city’s government. As a nation, we are under siege by a dangerous virus that can remorselessly take human life. Whenever we go to the local market, or for that matter anywhere in the public place, you will find most people are making an effort to work together.

There is a more serious problem we should not lose sight of.

The NYPD needs to focus on the problem of real crime in its city. Ironically, Mayor De Blasio released around 650 inmates from Rikers jail facilities due to coronavirus concerns.[2] Releasing them in the streets is reckless and dangerous. He has made the police department’s work that much more difficult. Granted, not all criminals released are dangerous, but many of them are. Public safety must be paramount—especially at a time of a pandemic. We do not need hardened criminals roaming the streets.

It is a recipe for social chaos.

New York already has legions of people and businesses leaving the state; de Blasio’s latest idea is not going to persuade New Yorkers to stay. He needs to think about the consequences of his misguided social policies.

What strikes me as odd is that Mayor de Blasio promised as part of his reelection campaign to rein in attempts of the Justice Department to spy on Muslims.[3] But why is spying on New Yorkers acceptable? It is bad enough we have to deal with the COVID-19 virus that originated in China. But must we also emulate the kind of dystopian practices the Communist Chinese government has used for decades against its own people? In China, the government wants you—the citizen—to spy on your neighbors. In Spain, Spanish authorities are now using drones, mounted with microphones, to scold people who aren’t self-quarantining.

Is Mayor de Blasio going to emulate the Spanish police as well?

If there are any moral messages here, it would probably serve as a good reminder to think first, and speak later. The ancient philosopher Ben Sira once wrote over 2200 years ago, “One man is silent and is thought wise, another is talkative and is disliked” (Ben Sira 20:4). I suspect Mayor de Blasio never read Mark Twain either, who also concurred with Ben Sira, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.”

Admittedly, the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has upset our daily lives in innumerable and unimaginable ways. But the need to defend our country’s most fundamental values—such as the right to be entitled to a modicum of privacy must not be violated.

People who suffered in Europe during the time when the Iron Curtain was still intact could remember how the communist dissidents feared being turned over by “friends” and neighbors. Turning citizens into  informants is a frightening scenario we all ought to be concerned about. Remember, the Torah teaches that we are supposed to be each other’s keeper, not each other jailors.

NOTES

[1] https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/apr/22/americans-are-asked-to-snitch-on-each-other-during/

[2] https://nypost.com/2020/03/31/de-blasios-plan-to-free-violent-inmates-is-surely-his-most-reckless-ever/

[3] https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/de-blasio-assure-advocacy-groups-muslim-spying-article-1.2380990

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Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel is spiritual leader of Temple Beth Shalom of Chula Vista, California.  He may be contacted via michael.samuel@sdjewishworld.com