By David Hegg
As I have watched, listened and grieved the erosion of civility in our society among those who make and report the news, the course we’ve taken has finally become clear.
It used to be that criticism was confined to what a person did, what they said, or how they appeared. When some local or national figure acted unseemly, or spouted pronouncements that didn’t make sense, or made promises they couldn’t keep, or when some movie star walked the red carpet in an absurd getup, their actions were critiqued as unwise, foolish, careless, manipulative, shocking, or any of a host of other adjectives that labeled their actions in a negative way. They were hounded for their words, their obvious lack of knowledge, their preposterous posture, or some other obvious flaw.
But, at the same time, it was understood that good people can make mistakes, can say and do things that are unacceptable to some, and generally get themselves in hot water, especially when they live in the public eye where everything they do, say, or wear is recorded, reported and critiqued. We as a nation critiqued their mistakes and left it at that.
Of course, over time, when someone kept making mistakes, impossible promises and ridiculous assertions, and continued acting in ways that were misleading, shocking, and even immoral, critique shifted from actions to character. We went deeper in our ridicule and proclaimed that the person made mistakes because they were evil.
We see quite a bit of that today. We have somehow come to the place where we have redefined what used to be understood as thoughtless mistakes, misspoken words, and even pure stupidity as the evil of the soul leaking out all over the place.
We see this all too often today. We’ve largely gone from judging actions to castigating character, and all too often the determination is made that the level of flawed character makes the person irredeemable. What used to be reported as a mistake is now declared to be a character flaw, and the language is getting dirtier and more violent.
What I’m trying to show is the evolution of our divisive rhetoric, and the corresponding erosion of civil critique. We used to critique actions. But now we jump right to character. And that’s not the end of the road.
In the past few months, we have moved from critiquing actions and demeaning character to impugning a person’s nature. I can say it simply: Those we don’t like are not just foolish or even flawed in their character. They are evil. They are by nature evil human beings and should never have a place in our world.
If you’ve been playing with open eyes and an open mind, you’ve seen national figures say their opponents should be run over and left for dead. They should be put in a sack and thrown down a well. We’ve read that some even declare their opponents should be assassinated or spend the rest of their lives behind bars because they are irredeemably evil. And they say this even as they applaud when known violent criminals are released or pardoned.
Friends, it is clear that this erosion of civil critique has filtered down from the newsmakers to our own hearts. We’re losing the fundamental premise of civil society that we really are in this together. We’re forgetting that love for neighbor – every neighbor as fellow human being – is the foundation of any ordered, productive and satisfying society. All around us, civility is gasping for air even as we everywhere hear the call for collaboration, cooperation, and unity. Ha! It’s hard to have unity when, first thing in the morning, we are sharpening our tongues.
So, in closing, go ahead and critique my writing, my opinion, even my moral philosophy and my theology. But for the love of reason and peace, don’t rush to brand me as evil and fill my mailbox with hateful, inflammatory rhetoric. Instead, help me see your side with reasoned, well-thought-out, and well-written arguments. After all, haven’t we got enough evil already? What we need is a bit more knowledge applied to life as wisdom. What we need is a strong belief that we truly must be “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,” including those who make us so mad we could wish them dead.
Local resident David Hegg is senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church. “Ethically Speaking” appears Sundays.
