BS AVENGER: A NEW KIND OF SUPERHERO — He never listened to the boos because he never listened to the cheers

In 1987, Karen Russell, daughter of NBA legend and Boston Celtic great Bill Russell, wrote a piece for the New York Times entitled "Growing Up with Privilege and Prejudice." Karen, a Harvard Law School graduate, wrote eloquently about her complicated life, and ended the piece with one of my all-time favorite quotes:

"Daddy told me that he never listened to the boos because he never listened to the cheers. He did it for himself."

I love that quote much more for the "never listened to the cheers" part than the never listened to the boos. Many people, especially those lucky enough to have fame and fortune, are adept at never listening to the boos. They are often good at booing others, but seldom hear any criticism, no matter how valid.

They usually aren't very good at the "never listening to the cheers" part. If anything, they listen, parrot and live for the cheers.

We are in an era of effusive praise and effusive criticism.

In a Trump cabinet meeting in late August, Trump Plays Reality Television Host at Cabinet Meeting That Lasts Hours — The New York Times "all of the president's men and women took their turns, each working a little bit harder than the last to offer Mr. Trump praise" And "The updates ranged from enthusiastic…to servile, and they went on for hours," concluding with this astounding comment from the Prez himself: " "I have no ego when it comes to this stuff," Mr. Trump said.

As if that weren't enough listening to the cheers, just days later, Trump hosted top executives from many of the world's largest high tech companies, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google founder Sergey Brin and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, where the gush of excessive flattery was painful to watch, led by Cook's comment, "I want to thank you for setting the tone such that we could make a major investment in the United States and have some key manufacturing, advanced manufacturing here…I think that says a lot about your focus and your leadership and your focus on innovation." Others were equally obsequious.

We have of course come to expect that this president lives for the cheers. His response to the boos is often (usually) extreme in the opposite direction, from mocking a disabled journalist to denigrating war hero John McCain to crafting insulting nicknames for people — some of whom became his cabinet members — remember Little Marco?

I suppose we can expect sycophancy from cabinet members, and maybe even from multi-billionaire tech execs whose wealth depends upon keeping the leader happy, so he doesn't punish them the way he punishes many others.

But once in a while, it would be good to see a little courage, a little independent thinking, from the people who have a lot to do with how the lives of all of us progress or stall or, as in the case of people like RFK Jr. and Kristi Noem, are destroyed.

My father's most impactful message to me was, "Think for yourself." That hasn't always served me well, but it has helped me far more than it has harmed me.

Doing the right thing isn't all that difficult. Even if, as Karen Russell said about her father, you are doing it for yourself.