The March 1892 issue of The Christian Recorder—a publication of the African Methodist Episcopal Church—wrote these words: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never break me”. This was a thought to encourage people to ignore name-calling and insults and, therefore, to back down from retaliation, especially physical.
Yet the biblical book of Proverbs says “the words of the reckless pierce like swords” and this is 2017 when the world has entered a new and dangerous age of words, killing words.
Two days ago, a man in the United States specifically targeted members of the US Congress who were of the Republican political party, asking a bystander before he started shooting if these were “Republicans or Democrats?” Five people were shot, including one Republican congressional leader who is in critical condition as of this writing.
The shooter had previously posted on Facebook, “Trump is a Traitor. Trump Has Destroyed Our Democracy. It’s Time to Destroy Trump & Co.”
In a free society, everyone is entitled to his or her opinion and to voice that publically through whatever platform. There are laws to limit how far an individual may go in calling for or encouraging violence against another person, including a public official. In the past this has worked to help keep those words from turning into “sticks and stones”.
However, we are witnessing something far beyond what has been “normal” in the past. The envelope of speech has been pushed to where almost anything goes and is accepted.
Singer/songwriter Madonna: “I’ve thought a lot about blowing up the White House”. Actor Robert De Niro: “I’d like to punch him [Trump] in the face”. Rock musician Ted Nugent: “Obama and Clinton should be tried for treason and hung”.
If your favorite iconic celebrity can say things such as that, then we can all get on board. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arrested a Tucson Unified School District employee for making violent threats against Arizona Rep. Martha McSally. Agents said 58-year-old Steve Martan left threatening voicemails for McSally, telling the Republican congresswoman that her days were “numbered”.
“To save American democracy, Trump must hang. The sooner and the higher, the better,” California State University at Fresno Prof. Lars Maischak tweeted in February. “If she’s in office, I hope we can start a coup. She should be in prison or shot. That’s how I feel about it,” Dan Bowman, a 50-year-old contractor, said of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee
Sen. Tim Kaine—Democrat nominee for vice president in 2016—said Democrats must “fight in Congress, fight in the courts, fight in the streets, fight online, fight at the ballot box”, against the administration of President Donald J. Trump.
And then we wonder why a single individual believes that he has the moral authority to move to extreme violence?
There are only two possible outcomes from this situation. Either nation will move deeper into chaos and destruction or the iron fist of government will take control. Neither is acceptable.
Government can stop this. China is proof of that. It is only a matter of how far government is willing to go and that is usually very far. While human-rights activists and others reject any form of official censorship, this is not about stopping free speech but of individual moderation. Many seem to have lost the boundary line of acceptable and unacceptable speech, which then inevitably leads to losing the line drawn between acceptable and unacceptable actions.