Freedom of Speech?

 

“⁴⁸…Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.” Luke 12:48b English Standard Version

               The digital age brought great wealth and power. Christy and I enjoy streaming video entertainment. We choose what we watch and when we watch it. I enjoy a rapidly expanding library of digital books. Currently, my digital shelves hold over three hundred volumes…most of which I have actually read. Via Facebook and other social media platforms, I keep up with friends and family scattered across the globe. My digital music collection must have over five hundred selections. I subscribe to the Encyclopedia Britanica and other scholarly journals opening the door to any serious scholarship from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. I have taken thousands of digital photos, many, if not most, of them flowers. I peruse a major national newspaper each day, keeping up with news, serious and not so serious. I can access all of this content from five different devices that I own and could probably access all of it from any networked device…as long as I can remember my password. I swim in a sea of information that astounded and at times overwhelmed my father’s generation. What I do with this content says much about the content of my character.

               As this election season unspools in front of me, I see two distressing trends in posting. First, many of my friends, most of whom consider themselves Christians, post things that are either questionable or demonstrably untrue. Second, many of us, again many who would check the box of Christian on a questionnaire, post mean spirited memes, designed to ridicule and demean. First let’s talk about truth.

As Christians, we must, absolutely must, speak the truth. Given the ease of research in the digital realm, there is no reasonable excuse for sharing lies or distorted truth. When we repost, or share, lie we share in the guilt. I am responsible for the things that I post. My postings reveal my character. If a stranger were to peruse my Facebook page, what kind of man would they think I am? Would I be comfortable with the creator of the universe perusing my content? Sometimes we drag out the threadbare excuse of, “Well, you cannot find truth,” or “Well they all lie,” or even worse, “That is your truth.” At times, truth may be difficult to discern. Friends, it is not that hard to find ground truth. What we really mean when we employ such excuses is, we find the facts do not fit our preconceptions. To butcher a famous movie quote, “We can’t handle the truth.” I bear responsibility for checking the facts before I hit share. There are quite a few ways to find out what the facts truly are. Let us reinvigorate fidelity to the truth. This does not mean that we will always agree on policies or candidates. How we address the facts at hand may differ, and that’s acceptable. But we must be honest and truthful in what we share. And we must do this in a gracious manner.

 When I was a teacher, I would never have let my students create many of the memes which pop up in my feed daily. So much of what we pass around the social-media-verse is ugly and demeaning. It is as if sitting in front of a computer, or other digital device, relaxes our already weak judgment and restraint. Just because someone is a public figure does not give me license to create and or share degrading material. Perhaps I should think, “How would I feel if someone posted that about me?” After all, Jesus said, ¹² “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7:12 Perhaps if I tacked a copy of that on the wall next to my computer, I might do better. We need to find a better, more gracious, way to communicate.

Our careless approach to speech does not help build consensus. It only alienates and deepens an already dangerous chasm. When I post or share, do I stop and think about how someone who disagrees with me would receive it? If we want to make progress on the truly vexing problems we face as a nation, we must cling to the truth and stop using degrading and snarky memes. We must back away from polemic speech and find better ways to put out our ideas. After all, isn’t communication about persuasion and not alienation. We've been given a great blessing by living in the digital age. How will we bear this responsibility?