“REPUTATION is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving,” says Iago in Othello. Like the Max Clifford of Shakespeare, Iago knew the power of destroying someone’s reputation and how little it has to do with the truth. So I don’t set much store by reputation.
It seems to me that it is often based on hearsay, gossip and hype. Much better to find out for yourself. When I arrived in Cyprus six months ago a number of well-meaning people told me who to avoid, where to go and what to think on various issues. In many instances, if I had taken their advice, I would have missed out on knowing some very interesting people, eating in some great little restaurants and on visiting some lovely places.
Last week, I found myself in a small harbour bar, eating fresh fish on the seashore at Ayia Napa. There wasn’t a drunken youth in sight, there was no loud music playing and the beach was pristine. A few fishing boats chugged cheerfully in and out the harbour, and a couple of families were busy building sandcastles. Cormorants dipped and dived. It was pretty and pleasant and completely unexpected.
Of course, I realise that in the height of summer, things will be different when mass tourism takes over, but at this time of year it’s great. Lots of walkways to push buggies, cycle paths circling off to Cape Greco and a beach and sea so clean that I would have been pushed to find the ubiquitous plastic water bottle. All the more enjoyable for being the opposite of what I had been led to believe.
Too often, we accept what we are told, without checking out the facts for ourselves. Of course we have to rely on the media to inform our opinions: and our friends, family and acquaintances to give us their views, but so often the information passed on is like Chinese whispers. The colleague who has a quick drunken kiss at the Christmas party is deemed a raving sex maniac by New Year. The tennis player who once questions a line call is a labelled a terrible sport. The student who challenges her teacher’s accuracy is seen as a troublemaker in the staff room.
Why this is so important is that it is linked to prejudice. That is, those views formed and believed without substance. Having an open mind is perhaps the most valuable of all human virtues and it’s not easy. With the increasing pressure in the world of conflicting ideologies, whether it be the rise of religious fundamentalism or the march of consumerist capitalism, we are bombarded with stereotyped, second-hand views. With PR consultants given huge amounts of money to protect and promote their clients’ reputations we are fed diets of spin. Sadly, it counts for so much in some families that they would rather kill a daughter for supposed infidelity than have their reputation tarnished.
Without acceptance of the negative stereotypes of reputation, perhaps there would have been no holocaust nor apartheid. It affects whole nations just as much as individuals. Abraham Lincoln likened it to a shadow, a distortion of the real thing and never to be trusted. Maybe some reputations are justifiably deserved, but for the most part they are indeed “false impositions”.
The last word though must go to a Cypriot friend I spoke to last night. “I’m going to Ayia Napa next weekend,” I said. “No, don’t. It’s really awful,” she replied. “Oh, when did you go there?” I asked. “I haven’t,” she answered, “I just know”…
