OPINIONS: ‘Brothers, do not slander one another’

It seems to me that most of the people who blog or comment on various political and social issues on the internet violate this rule on a daily basis. The rule there appears to be “fire every possible insult at anyone who dares to disagree with your ideas.”

These sections are filled with people calling each other fools, stupid, ignorant, rednecks, un-American, Nazis, and especially “racists.” There is a T-shirt on the market by some of the Tea Party people that says, “It does not matter what I say, you are going to call me racist anyway.”

And to make it worse, they fill their comments with every kind of profanity. As someone said:. “They would make a sailor blush.”

These insults and slanders come from both sides of the political spectrum, and they equally violate this important teaching from St. James. It is because each side is convinced that they are absolutely correct and only someone with these unpleasant characteristics would dare disagree. I have long believed that there are two ways to debate any subject. If you have good points in support of your position, you state your position and present your points of argument. If you cannot support your positions and are losing out to a well-informed opponent, you attempt to discredit him with profanity and insults. Thus, when I read these kinds of abuses, I am convinced that the writers have no real proof of their positions, and are determined to force their ideas on others in order to avoid admitting their errors.

It is as if they are saying “I am never wrong and only a fool like you would dare question my words.”

What they are actually doing is proving their total failure to present a valid argument. This is the ultimate definition of the word Arrogance from Merriam and Webster’s dictionary “an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions.”

It is a shame really, that we finally have a resource that allows all of us to exercise our right of free speech, only to have people of this kind engage in such arrogant, profane and abusive language. They do not shame their victims; they shame themselves. They remind me of a sign I saw on an office wall once. “Those of you who think you know it all are a nuisance to us that do.”

God has an answer to this kind of abuse. This quote from Proverbs 3:34 says it well: “He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble.”

Frank Gillispie is founder of The Madison County Journal. His e-mail address is frank@frankgillispie.com. His website can be accessed at http://www.frankgaillispie.com/gillispieonline.