It’s easy in this political season to speak before we think. The comments of some candidates have been so outrageous, in addition to being so polarizing, that it’s all we can do not to blurt out something equally inappropriate.
The same holds true as we read the almost daily news stories about the latest act of mass violence against police or gatherings of people. It’s too easy to react with generalizations that in calmer times we would never utter, let alone think.
But the anger and outrage and us vs. them mentality make it even more important to recognize that our hallowed free speech carries with it a serious responsibility. Just as there’s a fine line between free speech and yelling fire in a crowded, and not burning, theater, we need to understand the potential result of demonizing religions or nationalities or political parties and their candidates.
Jennifer Horn, who heads the Republican Party in New Hampshire, said “calls for violence in politics are never appropriate.” We couldn’t agree more.
And now comes WikiLeaks’ release of emails involving the Democratic National Committee and its underhanded attacks on Bernie Sanders, emails stooping so low as to advocate questions about his religious beliefs as a way to harm his Presidential run.
But it’s not just the Presidential election that is bringing out the worst in people; the tragedies of mass shootings and attacks on police officers have led unstable people to take matters – and guns – into their own hands.
Calling for violence against each other – whether it’s in the heat of a political race or in reaction to a horrendous act – does no one any good.
The idea of thinking about what we say before we say it needs a huge boost right about now. We don’t want to be responsible for killing an innocent person – and yes, killing is a likely result of the continual calls to violence.
If an unstable person hears enough times that someone is evil or in league with the devil or a criminal – despite no truth to the allegations, violence is a distinctly possible response.
In this age of social media and the internet, people write and send and post without even a second reading. We’re used to immediate gratification and an almost instantaneous reaction.
But we’re dealing with real lives, folks. Think before you speak.