As a longtime legislator, I am used to criticism. One cannot introduce a bill that would ban King County heroin-injection sites, or point out their failures with rising homelessness, without expecting angry emails from Seattle that tell you are misguided or worse. I understand that.

“Mr. Federal Way” has a luxury that you or I do not: anonymity. This is not the first time this fictional persona has launched personal attacks against me. A few months ago, he was used to suggest I was a Nazi after I proposed a solution to our growing homeless crisis. His anonymity is no different than the masked protesters one sees at a Seattle riot. We all know why they choose to hide their identity. It is time for the Mirror to take the mask off of Mr. Federal Way and have him take responsibility for his views and unprofessional behavior.

We often see demonstrations at the state capitol. The goal for all protesters should not just be to “peaceably assemble” as the First Amendment puts it, but to protest in decent manner, like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. did during the great Civil Rights protests. He represented American and his Christian values at their best during his protest activities. We need to model his example today.

On Jan. 11, after taking the oath of office, Gov. Jay Inslee gave his inaugural speech to the Legislature and a packed public gallery. No one interrupted him. If anyone agreed with him, they applauded. Otherwise, they sat quietly and listened. No one cursed him or waved obscene signs or objects. That is how appropriate free speech works.

Contrast that with the ugly behaviors witnessed on Jan. 19 and Jan. 20 across this country. Inauguration day allows Americans to remind the world that a graceful, peaceful transition of power is possible in a representative form of government. Yet on Jan. 20, police arrested over 200 people for violently protesting at the inauguration ceremony, and vulgar signs and displays were everywhere.

In Seattle, both the left and right were wrong when protesters became violent during an ugly demonstration against a vulgar conservative speaker. Protests the next day were largely peaceful, not counting threats against the White House, but civil decency remained in short supply, while profanity, vulgarity and hate were not uncommon among protesters.

Naively, I posted on social media calling for protesters to copy the graciousness of President Obama and Hillary Clinton when they protested. Who knew these were fighting words to the angry left? My political enemies like The Stranger and Mr. Federal Way twisted my words to say that I criticized every protester or the women’s marches or the First Amendment. Not true, I am fine with decent, peaceful protesters.

I never imagined that calling out my displeasure with those who resorted to violence, profanity and threats in exercising their constitutional rights would be met with lies and hatred. But welcome to what passes for the norm in the public square these days, where dishonest and hateful personal attacks are celebrated, and encouraged, by those who know better — like Mr. Federal Way.

Their incitements generated over 1,800 comments and calls to me. Most were within the bounds of reasonable speech. However, about 20 percent replied with some of the most offensive, vile and cruel speech I have ever seen or heard. This included many hateful, vulgar calls to my legislative office and my home phone.

The overwhelming abusiveness frightened my family, so we shut off our home answering machine for the first time in 25 years to stop the ugly calls. This was absolutely uncalled for and only proved the point of my post.

Sadly, those ugly protesters like The Stranger and those who cower behind Mr. Federal Way continue to inflame the situation — they are not interested in engagement and reasonable discussion. They have truly turned away from Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. or Archbishop Hunthausen or President Obama as model leaders for protests and toward profane, obscene protesters such as Madonna or the masked Seattle rioters. God help us!

Lastly, I don’t know why they have chosen to promote vulgarity, obscenity, hate and intimidation as acceptable civic discourse here in Federal Way. While our constitution gives them the freedom to do this, the real question is, “Do we really want this speech normalized here in Federal Way?”

Mark Miloscia is the District 30 senator for the state Legislature.