First, if you haven’t seen Sarah’s comment on the this post on the Facebook side of things, go to my profile. She had great thoughts. Here are some further thoughts of mine.
I blame the end of civility in our culture on what I will call “the culture of celebrity.”
It seems everyone is trying to make a name for themselves – to get themselves distinguished from the herd. There are legitimate ways to do so: be excellent at what you do, offer intelligent/thoughtful/provocative ideas to discourse, do something truly remarkable, etc. And then there are some shortcut ways that are made even easier by the 24-hour news cycle and reporters always willing to make headlines out of the sensational. Three examples from the religious world:
- Calling Avatar the “most Satanic film I’ve ever seen“ I understand that some religious leaders might be concerned about the naturalism and naturalistic spirituality presented in the film. It’s probably worthy of some deep discussion. And yet, how is this movie different from almost anything else in the Sci-Fi genre? Most Satanic? Really? Or is this just a blatant (and successful) grab for headlines?
- How about calling for the euthanasia of that killer whale at Sea World? And even going so far as to hint that the trainer got what she deserved. Of course, they’re quoting laws from Exodus 21 – but lets not exegete a little and ask what that might mean in our context, or what the implications are when trainers dress in black wet suits that make them look remarkable like a tasty seal to a killer whale.
- Telling listeners to leave your church if they talk about the “social gospel.” Forget that Jesus identified his mission on earth with many of those things that make up the social gospel.
I can’t tell you how frustrated I get by this stuff. It doesn’t help civility. It doesn’t help us have respectful conversations. Sometimes I wish I could filter the news for people. (but I think that would make me a totalitarian, wouldn’t it?)
Twitter Updates
Indeed. We really should just get rid of those people who are different from us in that they don’t respect the differences in people.