Some legislators have covered themselves with a cloak of impunity that places them practically outside any social control, disrupting decorum and sanity, without the slightest respect for their investiture and ethics.
An old saying that the chain is only as strong as its weakest link. In a society, equally, the cultural ties that unite its members are as noble as those that are instilled in those who make up the great mass of the population. The insults and vulgar expressions pronounced by some legislators are widely disseminated by the mass media and social networks, spreading throughout society, which contributes so that these forms of expression are considered normal and gradually become part of the language of the day. a day.
The popular representatives should raise the social dialogue. If some of them resort to offensive and prosaic language, they thereby encourage mediocrity, moral deterioration, contributing to the loss of prestige and bad reputation of the institution of which they are a part.
We must recognize that sometimes we all use unpleasant or hurtful expressions due to lack of self-control and, in some cases, “justifiably” to deal with a situation that requires to be invested with a character that only “bad words” can carry the true meaning. drama of what we intend to externalize or amend. But it is another thing to do it with the burden of an investiture of a moral person such as the Legislative Power.
Justo Villafañe, considered the father of the theory of reputation, coined the concept of “reputational transfer”, which alludes to the fact that the product of the conduct of the representatives of a company or institution -good or bad- is transferred to the same and vice versa.
Democracy grants all citizens the opportunity to express their ideas freely, without being censored or punished for it. However, the difference between speaking for oneself and doing so with an investiture, such as that of the management of a company or, in this case, the legislative chambers, which are one of the three Powers of the Union, must be taken into account.
Entities (companies or institutions) are entelechies, moral persons. They are brought to life by their leaders, spokespersons and their staff in general, who address their interlocutors on their behalf. According to this reasoning, the conduct of deputies and senators is what builds the reputation of the Legislative Power of our country with their words and actions, which is why they affect, for better or for worse, the construction of the reputation of Mexico within the country and in the world.
The mass media (newspapers, radio and television) and the digital media and social networks, in line with their work of disseminating what is happening, reproduce the statements of the personalities of national life, including the aforementioned expressions of the legislators, with which they contribute to promote the tendency to misuse language, violence and incivility, which little by little normalizes these practices, harmful to society, all covered up with the banner of freedom of expression.
The right of expression should not be restricted through the use of criminal law or by any means aimed at preventing the communication and circulation of ideas and opinions, but it is necessary to appeal to the prudence of those who express themselves with high-sounding and vulgar language, forced by their limitations of lexicon and ability to communicate properly, especially when they know that their rants will be widely disseminated and thereby deteriorate both their reputation and that of the power they represent and of our country.