10-6-17 Incitement

Incitement - Bill Wilson - www.dailyjot.com

 

In the days after the horrendous massacre of 59 people and wounding/injuring of over 500, the visceral rhetoric continues. Almost immediately, even before condolences and prayers were offered for the families and friends of the victims in Las Vegas, the drone of leftists calling for gun control could be heard loud and clear across the airwaves. "Disarm the public and there will be no more killing," they cry. We can look at Chicago, Baltimore, Washington, DC., Detroit, Los Angeles and numerous other places that have the most restrictive gun laws in the free world and they are among the highest in gun-related fatalities. Guns don't kill people, people using them do. But there is even a bigger problem. Incitement.

 

Celebrities and politicians of the left have pounded the airwaves and social media with extreme and aggressive comments calling for gun control. They are sarcastic, mean-spirited and demeaning to anyone who disagrees with their beliefs. This is a continuation of the same kind of rhetoric they have spewed forth since the election of Donald Trump as President. Anyone who disagrees with them is some sort of label from racist to bigot to misogynist to idiot. This rhetoric is pounded into people 24 hours a day, seven days a week on talk shows, news programs, social media, websites, emails and most any other form of communication. It has people so distraught, angry and edgy that it is the only thing many can talk about.

 

Whether it is Congressional shooter James Hodgkinson or mass killer Stephen Paddock or the next person who snaps, we as a nation have to be asking ourselves, "How much visceral can a person take?" How much negativity aimed at one group of people-Christian, conservative Americans-can a person take before they snap? How many words from Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Nancy Pelosi, Kathi Griffin, the ex-"president" Keith Ellison, Ashley Judd, Madonna, CNN, MSNBC, and others fill the container of hatred so much that it boils over in violence? What is the last full measure? Hodgkinson and Paddock knew, because they reached it. This incitement must end. These people must tone it down. This type of free speech has become akin to yelling "fire" in a crowded theatre.

 

George Washington, in his 1796 Farewell Speech, warned against divisions when he said, "The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles." We should act as such. Jesus said in Mark 3:25, "And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand." There are ways to disagree without being disagreeable. As Christians, we know how Christ taught civility and solving our differences without hate and vulgarity. For the sake of our way of life and our eternal hope, let us first be an example of Christ in our discussions, and also call on everyone to tone down the rhetoric in this atmosphere of hate.