Governor should not shame private citizens

On July 23, during a news conference that has been viewed thousands of times, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham flashed a picture of a family in Hobbs dining at a local restaurant.

This was done ostensibly to show that New Mexicans were “not taking the virus seriously.” Does anyone else see the problem of publicly shaming and “making an example” of a family exercising a fundamental right? If I as a teacher treated students like this, I would rightly be fired.

I watched this with horror — the highest government official, with all the resources of the state and media attention afforded her, publicly shamed a group of our fellow citizens. And why were these narcissists and psychopaths being shamed? Enjoying a meal as a family and supporting a local business during a tough time.

“Surely there will be an outcry,” I thought. So I waited for the articles explaining the impropriety and — in the current social media climate — dangerous nature of this action. Maybe I have not looked in the right places, because I haven’t seen many complaints.

“Their faces were obscured,” you might say. Give me a break. I grew up in a small town. We know each other by our cars, our pets, our haircuts. The segment showed 95 percent of this family’s physical being, not to mention the shaming of the establishment and the employees where they were eating. A twofer for the governor, I guess.

I’ll hand it to the governor: To me, she is developing the tidy and efficient tactics of a dictator. If I were any of the people in these photos, I would be on speed-dial to my lawyer. In the meantime: During this crisis, may I ask that journalists at least address what I see as these oversteps as a service to the public? We have rights, even and especially during a crisis. No one deserves to be made an example of and be publicly shamed.