If You Can Dish It, Learn to Take It Too — A Lesson in Tolerance, Truth, Respect, Fairness, Humility and Hypocrisy
There’s something deeply unsettling about the way some public figures behave—how easily they insult others, yet how quickly they play victim when the tables turn. And in recent days, no example illustrates this better than Hon. Sam George.
For years, Sam George has built a reputation around being bold, outspoken, and often controversial. He has taken to national television and social media platforms many times to label others with harsh words. He’s called people names, thrown serious allegations around without evidence, and shown little regard for how those words affect reputations, families, and lives. Among those he’s targeted are no less than the President of the Republic, Nana Akufo-Addo, and his Vice, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia—calling them “thieves” without offering proof.
And this isn’t something people are making up. It was even brought up during his vetting for Parliament. His attention was drawn to multiple instances where he had insulted, disrespected, and demeaned high-profile personalities, including the Chief Justice. He was asked to retract those statements. He refused.
That’s the Sam George we’ve come to know. Unapologetically blunt. Proudly defiant. A man who says what he wants, when he wants, how he wants.
But now, the story has changed. Suddenly, someone makes a claim—that Sam George was gifted a car—and it touches a nerve. Just a claim. Not a conviction. Not evidence. Not a newspaper headline backed by documents. A mere statement. And boom—he’s furious. He’s threatening lawsuits. He’s warning the public not to say anything false about him. He wants fairness. He wants justice. He wants silence.
Funny, isn’t it?
The same man who publicly insults others, who makes accusations without blinking, is now asking the world to tread carefully when speaking about him. The same man who refused to retract defamatory statements is now demanding apologies. The same person who didn’t care about how his words affected others now wants everyone to respect his name and reputation.
In a time when public discourse is becoming increasingly polarized, it is astonishing how the same individuals who throw verbal grenades with reckless abandon often cry foul when mildly questioned or held to the same standards. The irony is thick, and nowhere is it more glaring than in the conduct of public figures who believe critique is a one-way street.
This, right here, is the problem. It’s not just hypocrisy—it’s arrogance. The idea that you can say anything about anyone, but no one should dare say anything about you. That somehow, your dignity is sacred, but others’ aren’t. That when you speak, it’s truth and boldness—but when others speak, it’s slander and disrespect.
Let’s be clear: nobody is above criticism. Not Sam George. Not the President. Not you. Not me. If you want to live in a society that allows freedom of expression, you don’t get to choose when that freedom works and when it doesn’t. You don’t get to insult people publicly and then demand silence when you’re the one being questioned. That’s not how it works.
The basic principle is this: If you can dish it, learn to take it too.
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. You don’t get to be the loudest in the room when it suits you and then cry foul when the noise turns in your direction.
And maybe, just maybe, it’s time people in leadership roles understood that respect is earned—not by how loudly you speak or how many threats you make—but by how consistently you treat others with dignity, even when you disagree with them.
Let me borrow a few lines from one of literature’s most powerful speeches—Shylock’s monologue from The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare. The words were written over 400 years ago, but they still ring true today:
“Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions—fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons…
If you prick us, do we not bleed?
If you tickle us, do we not laugh?
If you poison us, do we not die?
And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?”
This speech is not about vengeance. It’s about humanity. It’s about the simple truth that no one is better than another. That if you feel pain when wronged, so does the person you’re wronging. That if you value your own dignity, so should you value others’.
Sam George is not superhuman. He is not untouchable. None of us are. And the sooner we understand that, the better our politics—and our society—will be.
Leadership isn’t about being loud. It’s about being fair. It’s about being honest with yourself. If you want justice, be just. If you want respect, give it. And if you want the truth to be told about you, start by telling the truth about others.
Because at the end of the day, credibility is not built by silencing critics. It is built by consistency, humility, and character—especially when it’s your turn to be on the receiving end of the same heat you once turned on others.
So to all public figures who think they’re beyond reproach, here’s a gentle reminder: you’re not. You are not above the people who voted for you, and you are not above the values that hold this democracy together. If you demand fairness, be fair. If you demand truth, be truthful. And if you want to be treated with respect—treat others the same.
That’s how leadership works.
#Puobabangna
By Victor Raul Puobabangna Plance from Eggu in the Upper West Region of Ghana
By Victor Raul Puobabangna Plance
