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Tribune

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(pronounced trib-yoon or trih-byoon; "oo" pronounced as in "boot" and not as in "book")  noun

Definition

1. in ancient Rome, an official elected by the plebeians to protect their rights and interests from arbitrary actions by the patricians. 2. a champion of the people; an unofficial defender or protector of the rights of the individual. 3. a prominent or militant defender or upholder of a particular cause, interest, state of affairs, etc.

Main Example

• In this so-called post-truth era, and amid all the demonizing that is pervasive in Washington D.C., is there anyone in the nation’s capital who is still worthy of the people’s trust? Well, in this author’s opinion, there is possibly one person who is fit to be anointed as America’s tribune of truth, justice, and fairness--[Drum roll please] FBI Director James Comey! And the two most primary reasons for proposing Comey’s name for such tribuneship: (i) the "60 Minutes" edition of October 5, 2014, which gave us an in-depth look into this man’s exemplary character and steely principles; (ii) the very recent high-profile and courageous action by Comey (who, incidentally, is a Republican) when he outright rejected President Trump’s wild and unproven allegation that Obama had wiretapped the Trump Tower.

Workplace Examples

• Have you noticed that each year, at our industry’s annual conference, some of the most coveted speaking slots are given to top executives of the Michael J. Smith Corporation? After all, when it comes to manufacturing sophisticated equipment, you’ve got to hand it to them--they have no equal. And so their execs have come to be regarded as tribunes of advanced manufacturing, quality, reliability, and things like that.
• I believe David Axelrod, former top advisor to Barack Obama, had the most convincing and succinct response to the question why many Midwesterners from the working class who had voted for Obama in 2012 switched their vote to Republican this time around. According to Axelrod, these Americans viewed Hilary as “a tribune of the status quo.” I believe he uttered those words on one of the Sunday morning talk shows.

Other Examples

• this author saying in a recent speech: “For me personally, the word ‘tribune,’ which means a champion of the people, has always been extremely evocative. For the first ten years of my life, the only newspaper I knew of was ‘The Tribune,’ the most widely read English language daily in my home state of Punjab, in Northern India. Incidentally, that paper was founded in 1881!”
• during a small anti-U.S. demonstration in a predominantly Muslim nation last month, an American who was being booed for the Trump administration’s travel ban grabbing a mic and saying the following to the angry crowd: “Look, I know that my home country has become unpopular in certain respects these days, but that is no reason to treat me in this ugly manner. Yes, I am an American, a proud American, but by no means am I an advocate or a tribune of its current policies or of its aggressive stance.”
• during the last election campaign, when WikiLeaks did selective leaking of only the Democratic Party’s internal emails and did not similarly tarnish the Republican ticket, it becoming abundantly clear that contrary to his claims, Julian Assange is no tribune of the plebs
• Cesar Chavez, a tribune of organized labor and whose birthday is a state holiday in California, Colorado, and Texas; Mahatma Gandhi, a tribune of peace and nonviolence
• the famous business news story of three years ago from New England when protesting employees of Market Basket forced the company’s board to reinstall ousted CEO Arthur C. Demoulas because they saw in him a tribune of the working class

© 2017 V.J. Singal
No part of this may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the author.

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