Civility in Discourse

razormouth.com ^ | 07/24/2002 | P. Andrew Sandlin

[CubicleGuy]

Lose the jerk talk and seek to persuade, not intimidate, with our words

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We live in an uncouth, coarse, and bad-mannered era. Late-night TV talk-show hosts revel in not only off-color, but also downright blackly sexual, jokes. Radio “shock jocks” routinely use profane, salacious language. The postmodern, stream-of-consciousness MTV and E! channels regale their viewers with flashes of images more suitable for primitive, pagan fertility rituals than for a civilized society. The language of even early teenagers is generously spiced with four-letter words. Glossy violence accompanied by smoothly seductive music glorifies this horrific coarseness on both cable and network TV.

Coarseness in the Church

This culture of coarseness has invaded the church. Interestingly enough, it is particularly prominent among “hard-right” conservatives. A chancellor of a noted fundamentalist university in the '70s publicly referred to President Gerald Ford’s wife as a “slut.” A Calvinistic author referred to his “Christian” theological opponents as Bambis that need to be stomped by a theological Godzilla. This language tends to impress impressionable young men often insecure about their own masculinity and who equate such language with virulent manliness. Few opinions could be further from the truth. Perhaps readers and listeners these days are so numb to a civility of discourse that such language is necessary to communicate any substantive message. If this is so, we need to re-sensitize our culture, starting in the church, not further desensitize it by such coarse, vulgar language.

Respecting the Image of God in Man

When we employ civility in discourse, we are recognizing our intended audience as humans made in the image of God. This is the theological rationale for a civility in discourse. When we lose the biblical doctrine of creation of man in God’s image, as the Nazis did, we readily may refer to fellow humans as vermin and insects‚ and eventually treat them as vermin and insects, because language is the womb of action. Christians who employ this or similar language do not have merely a social problem; they have a theological problem.

Of Jesus Christ we read: “A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment [justice] unto victory” (Mt. 12:20). His language was at times strong (Mt. 23:37), but never crude, coarse, and vulgar.

Unbelievers may be sinners, even particularly egregious sinners; but they are still made in God’s image and deserve respectful discourse. Coarse, crude, belittling language and verbal intimidation rarely persuades — it only dissuades. We do not win people over to our views by spitting in their faces — and we spit in their face when we lack the decency to communicate with them respectfully.

It is easy to resort to this kind of language when we are suffering duress. When St. Paul stood before Ananias and was punched in the mouth, he responded to his judge, “God shall smite thee, thou whited wall” (Ac. 23:3). But Paul later apologized for his language toward the high priest. As noted above, our Lord used strong, passionate language in rebuking the Pharisees. Using satire, He once referred to Herod as “that old fox” (Lk. 13:32). Job practiced verbal irony when he said to his “miserable comforters,” “No doubt ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you” (Job 12:2). Yet the Bible tells us, “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger” (Pr. 15:1).

Civility in discourse does not preclude forceful, incisive, provocative language. It does, however, preclude coarseness, crudeness, belittlement, and intimidation.

Totalitarian Language

Reasoned discourse is indispensable to the exchange of ideas in a free society — including the exchange of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the most important message of all. Tom Shachtman, I believe, observes in his The Inarticulate Society that once we lose civility in discourse, the only final recourse is violence. Totalitarianism always begins first in language and only later works its way into politics. It is no coincidence that men who consistently fail to be civil in discourse must employ verbal violence as a form of cognitive coercion. They must intimidate because they cannot (or refuse to) persuade. They sow the seed of political totalitarianism.

Let us recommit ourselves to a civility in discourse. Our Lord requires no less of us as his people.

[CubicleGuy]

Point made, I hope.

[RnMomof7]

You know I owe you an apology..and you have it

[restornu]

CTR

[Utah Girl]

Excellent post.

[yendu bwam]

This language tends to impress impressionable young men often insecure about their own masculinity and who equate such language with virulent manliness.

It's deeply sad that almost wherever we go these days, especially with our impressionable children, we are affronted with crudely sexual language, and mass profanity so omnipresent that one cannot escape it. When I go skiing with our kids, the slopes are filled with teenagers screaming out sexual and depraved epithets (which bring about no sanction from the ski people). Our schools have for the most part given up punishing such behavior (though my kids go to religious schools, where such is indeed punished, and strongly). All in all, this eats and chips away at our souls each day, making us coarser, meaner, and drives our thoughts (and our kids') deep into a filthy gutter. Though we have the freedom to speak this way, we hurt ourselves greatly. - - And you're right, so much of this comes from young men and women who are deeply insecure about themselves, and about what they believe in. They need lifting up, to see that there is something better and more beautiful above where they have placed themselves.

[american colleen]

"Civility in discourse does not preclude forceful, incisive, provocative language. It does, however, preclude coarseness, crudeness, belittlement, and intimidation.

Let us recommit ourselves to a civility in discourse. Our Lord requires no less of us as his people."

Great post, thank you.

[RnMomof7]

BTTT so it does not get lost in the shuffle of the week end..

[Illbay]

Funny, I was thinking this just last night as I was channel surfing.

I saw a few seconds of "South Park" (which I've never actually seen before, believe it or not), and also some other shows and movies, especially the "comedies", and was thinking "isn't it interesting to see how the 'holy crusade' that 'comedians' like Lenny Bruce and George Carlin embarked upon over a generation ago has finally borne fruit. Now you are very rarely going to see a current comedy entertainment without gutter-language and gutter-behavior being exploited to the minutest detail.

I'm not sure what the answer is, except for enough folks to say "enough" and refuse to pay for it.

IOW, it's not going away anytime soon.

Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,
As, to be hated, needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.

-- Alexander Pope, Essay on Man Epistle 2:V.

[Some hope remaining.]

bump

[rising tide]

Ditto to Steve Sanlins's sentiments.