As a former prosecutor, sometimes people refer to me as 'Attila the Hun.' I understand how people can get a reputation sometimes.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I was reading a lot of European history, and I thought Attila the Hun had gotten a bad rap.
It's a sad commentary on where politics is today. If someone disagrees with you, you're either Attila the Hun or a leftist liberal.
If Attila the Hun were alive today, he'd be a drama critic.
For a long period of history, you were what people said about you, and if your reputation was stained, you were in very serious trouble. People fought duels over this. Then it fades away historically.
When someone says, 'I trusted you,' the phrase is loaded with all the actions that came from that trust: the person comes almost to embody trust, just as anyone who's always hustling can only be called a hustler.
Once your name becomes well known, politicians come courting.
I'm Dan Gelber. As a federal prosecutor, I helped put away corporate criminals, corrupt politicians and violent gangs.
My reputation was built on hostility. I had no friends and some very virulent enemies in the old-guard art scene when I began. They threw their heavy artillery against me. They were convinced I was perverting the public taste.
I had a reputation in high school for making trouble.
No matter what I do, I'll be forever known as the Manson prosecutor.