Freedom From Speech: The New World of Outrage

 

 

What oppressive times we live in. In today's age people have become so thin skinned that you cannot possibly be candid or honest. And yet the virtues of integrity and honesty are considered the best policies in both the secular cooperate world and the church. In this contemporary age we are compelled to use tact to the degree that what we really want to say gets lost in the translation. We are so concerned about offending or getting back lash from someone that we choose the side of caution and often let our true feelings fade into the void. I wonder what Jesus would think of his Church behaving in this manner. Christ after all said, "let your yes be yes and your no be no." (Matthew 5:37). The Savior often spoke candidly to both his friends and enemies. To his Disciples he said, "You unbelieving generation," (Mark 9:19) To Peter, "Get behind me Satan!" (Matthew 16:23), to the Pharisees, "You snakes and you vipers, you make the sons of the devil worse than yourselves," (Matthew 23:33) and etc. Our Lord was no the pacifist peace maker that proliferates in Christian mythology and cinema. He was straightforward and spoke with authority. He did not worry about hurting people's feelings, he knew prophets must speak without fear of men being offended.

The dichotic situation of our society is astounding. Men are told to be assertive and even violent when it comes to ambition. But then when they try to behave in this manner they are labeled barbaric and lacking in diplomacy. It seems virtue becomes a vice very quickly in our society. We are taught to be temperate and yet to be competitive in today's markets you have to stand out and do something out of character or seemingly compromising of your character. How in God's name can you possibly function when you are being lectured you are too wanton or too rigid? Then the experts say the famous adage that you need "balance"; that if you just master the animal and the man inside you will be perfect. This is good in theory, but people typically gravitate to extremes and so the goal of moderating behavior either is lost or it becomes a focus that inevitably oppresses the individual and launches them into another extreme.

It is quite a tragedy that today people cannot be themselves. We are forced to monitor every thought and carefully decide what we say with lofty words and sugar coated gestures. The result is that we are becoming social and spiritual unics who no longer can express how we really think or feel without the fear of reprisal. Even good hearted campaigns and commercial companies worry without rest if their ad or website is worded correctly and if it will offend someone. As Greg Gutfield says in his Book, "The Joy of Hate", "people have given into phony outrage and now target anything and stir up hate." (Greg Gutfield, Red Eye).

Unfortunately I have no remedy, nor any advice on how to reverse this terrible disposition in our society. I could suggest the rather cliché and solution of prayer (which does have a major impact), but I am afraid it is not sufficient in of It's self to change the situation. People must make a stand and start throwing off this hyper-sensitivity that enslaves and keep everyone on egg shells. Until people as a whole choose not to be offended and desire honesty over hollow responses, we will continue to spiral into a strict society that marginalizes everyone. Freedom of speech is essentially dead, and it will only be resurrected if we take a stand and stop feeding the machine of offense.