By Danzil Monk Sr.
Anyone following the current conflict in our media and other sources of information can clearly see an information war between Conservatives and Leftists.
Not only can we see this war of ideas and information being waged in the public arena, but it seems that everyone is being forced to pick a side and are being pressured to toe the line of their group’s views, or else suffer the consequences of “CANCELLATION”.
What is worst, is that these ultimatums are not just coming from strangers, but from friends and family, making the situation much more serious.
Granted, this kind of conflict is as old as human existence, but what is different about it today is that instead of it being waged mainly by intellectuals in book battles that very few people read, or by competing organizations, or world governments, the establishment of social media has opened the door for every individual to enter the arena of expressing their opinion to the world.
Now we no longer have to pay astronomical prices or be invited to a popular TV show or program to be heard on the world platform. With the social media platforms, everyone has access to the world and can directly participate in the conversation, and this has given rise to the madness.
THE TRAGEDY OF GIVING A VOICE TO FOOLS
I must be careful with my next point, because I do not want to play into the hands of what Thomas Sowell correctly refers to as the “elite”, who arrogantly think that they have the qualifications and the right to decide What is best for the world. They do not.
But at the same time, nor does fools who just like to hear their own voices or see their words in print so that they can feel important. Such people are a major part of the problem, and so I feel that I must address them here.
And before you take offense with my calling people fools, please note that God has given me permission to do so. Just find any Bible software that has a search option and type in the word “fool”. You will find that it occurred over 180 times in the Bible. It appears 78 times in the book of Wisdom (Proverbs). Yes, God has a lot to say about Fools.
But I will only use one reference here, from the 14th chapter of Proverbs, verse 7.
“Stay away from a foolish man (person); you will gain no knowledge from his speech.”
(Holman Christian Standard Bible)
I have observed that this seems to be where the main problem is, far too many fools have taking part in this dialogue on a massive scale, and it makes getting at the truth that much more difficult.
Many sincere people with good trusting hearts have been influenced by such fools, and have repeated their false information thinking it was truth.
I know that use of this word "fool" will offend many, because they are not used to hearing brutal truth. We have been conditioned by political correctness to shun any hard words that may hurt the feelings of so many, no matter how accurate the use of the word is. That is part of the problem, but I digress.
Be that as it may, the truth is that I have personally witnessed many on social media who clearly occupy the place of a fool when it comes to their ideas, views and comments expressed on that public forum for everyone to see.
It has always been my policy, that if you are bold enough to openly and quite publicly express your opinion to the world on social media, you should be willing to have your opinion challenged and refuted. If you become offended by such challenges and cannot defend your publicly stated opinion, you are foolish for making it publicly. And if you are offended by being called a foolish for doing so, you are also childish. Mature adults, are willing to own up to their errors.
I might add that anyone who defends someone who is in error, and condemns those who have challenged and refuted them, are foolish for doing so. Much can and should be said about this whole situation, but I will have to save that for another time. I just say this in passing because it has been something I have often experienced on social media when engaging people who insisted on posting their opinions on their page, and commenting on my page, but who were insulted by my reply and challenge and refutation. Rather than refute my rebuttal, they would rant, or accuse me or make accusations about the person we were discussing, but never provide and actual defense for their arguments. It is sad, but that is where we have come to. Far too many people now think that their opinion is sufficient, and there is no need for proof, evidence, or fact to enter the conversation.
As Proverbs 14:7 says, when you encounter that kind of person, don’t expect to learn from them. If knowledge is what you are seeking, avoid them.
This brings me to my next point, because I don’t want this article to be long. It certainly could be, as there are mountains of material that needs to be evaluated on this topic.
MY CONFESSION ABOUT MANY ON THE LEFT AND MANY CONSERVATIVES
I must confess that by not watching or reading enough of the left’s material, and only viewing and reading what the Conservatives said about the Left, I began to get a distorted perspective of many on the LEFT that was not accurate. I began to see key Leftist teachers as totally or practically all deceptive in what they claimed. Because Conservatives generally only point out what the LEFT says and does that is wrong and rarely acknowledge what they say and do that is right.
The same is true of the LEFT, they often only focus on what the Conservatives do and say that is wrong and rarely if ever mention or acknowledge what they say and do that is right.
I have seen these violations often in the commentaries of leftists like Roland Martin and Conservatives like Laura Ingraham of Fox News. The question is why do they do this?
Because many on both sides do not seem to be interested in being balanced and totally honest when it comes to the other, the goal seems to be to discredit the other side so that people will not follow or even listen to the other side. This is not proper, righteous, or healthy for a person, a group, or a nation. And it certainly is not good for a Christian.
Our obligation as Christians is to carefully examine all arguments and honestly evaluate them ourselves, not to allow someone else to tell us how to evaluate and perceive what someone has said.
When we only accept what someone “says” that someone did or said, we place ourselves into the control of the one we believe. That is fine if what they say is totally accurate and fair, then we are well informed. But if their information is tainted with bias, misinformation and lies, our information will be false and if we believe it, we will be misinformed and mis-educated. And if we repeat it to others, we will become deceivers, and will be guilty of helping to spread lies.
What is the solution?
STOP BEING INTELLECTUALLY LAZY
The only solution is to establish a personal policy that we will not accept an accusation without first fully hearing it for ourselves “IN ITS ORIGINAL CONTEXT”. I emphasis that because many on both sides have used clips of the other side out of context to give a false impression of what they said. This is wrong and dishonest.
Secondly, we must not repeat or reference such material as true until we have done the above and confirmed it. RELYING ON SOMEONE ELSE'S CONFIRMATION OF ITS INTEGRITY IS NOT SUFFICIENT.
Why? Because if they are wrong or bias in their “confirmation”, that wrong bias will be passed on to you, and by repeating it you will pass it on to someone else. That is wrong, and it is propagating falsehood.
In closing, I want you to look with me at a passage of scripture. It is in Matthew, a statement by Jesus.
Matthew 12:35-37
“A good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say unto you, that every idle word that men (people) shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
I do not think many Christians take this verse seriously, they seem to think that warnings like this do not apply to them for some reason. Either because they have never read it or have never been taught it, or because they really do not believe it.
Whatever the reason, let me assure you that this is a serious warning and Jesus never made idol threats.
While I don’t expect people like Roland (I don’t know what his religious belief is, it can’t be Biblical Christian), or Laura as a Catholic, to take this kind of warning seriously, I do expect Professing Bible Christians to.
We as Christians will be held accountable by God for what we say and do, and that knowledge ought to make us extremely cautious about what we say and do.
Unlike others who seem to take great offense to being challenged or corrected, I invite you to contact me whenever you see or hear me say something that is incorrect. I honestly appreciate such corrections as they help me to be more accurate and therefore more helpful to others.