The old
childhood ditty about “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will
never hurt me” (which, by the way, is a mischaracterization of the original
poem in which the power of words to hurt was the whole point!) has run through
my mind a lot in the past couple of weeks. First we endured the violence that
erupted in a number of Muslim countries over the release of the anti-Muslim
video denigrating the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and now we are
subjected to print ads appearing on buses and trains in our nation’s major
cities proclaiming “In any war between the civilized man and the savage,
support the civilized man. Support
Israel. Defeat Jihad.” That shocking print ad has caused no
end of uproar, not only from Muslims who feel yet again attacked, demonized,
degraded, and demeaned by the implications that Muslims are “savages”, but also
by many supporters of Israel who find the ad disgusting and fear it does more
to harm Israel’s standing in the world than to garner support for it. Not to mention the horrible historical
associations that the word “savages” has for African Americans and Native
Americans who suffered terribly at the hands of colonial oppressors who
characterized them as savages as they dragged them into slavery or slaughtered
them while conquering their land. Not
to mention the sexist implications of the word “man.”
In all the
controversy erupting over both these incidents, the issue of how we exercise
our freedom of speech becomes a central question. In our American democracy we revere our first amendment
right to free speech. We believe
wholeheartedly that everyone has the right to say what they think, however
atrocious, obnoxious, rude, mean or hateful it is with only the caveat that it
must not incite listeners to engage in destructive or violent behavior. With the advent of the internet and
social media, it has become even easier for everyone with access to the
internet to voice their opinions and thoughts and disseminate that speech
around the world if they so choose.
Sometimes I think we are suffering from “too much of a good thing.” In our commitment to protect free
speech, have we created a society in which civility, good manners, and respect
for the feelings of others are values of a quaint and distant past? Is it true that “mere words” are
sufficiently benign that they need only minimal regulation?
While I am no
advocate of censorship, nor do I wish to see us become a country where people
can be charged with “treason” or “blasphemy” based on their written or oral
rants, I cannot help but wonder if we might not need to revisit the wisdom of
our religious traditions on matters of the tongue and pen (and now text, tweet,
e-mail, blogpost, YouTube videos, etc!)
It is undoubtedly the case that we need to continue to uphold freedom of
speech as a civil and legal right, but we might also want to engage in some
intentional, spiritual reflection on what kind of civic community we want to
create. All the major religious
traditions of the world have something to say on issues of “free speech.”
In the Christian
tradition, the weekly Sunday lectionary has been taking believers through the
pastoral Epistle of James for the past several Sundays. This short pastoral letter is a
great source of wisdom on issues of the tongue, and it has some pretty strong
things to say about the dangers of unfettered and unfiltered speech. For example, “This is scary: You can tame a tiger,
but you can’t tame a tongue—it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild, a
wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues
we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out
of the same mouth!” (James 3:7-10,
Message Version, a contemporary translation) The author of the “savages” billboard and the producers of
the anti-Muslim video certainly chose to use their tongues as “wanton
killers.”
Warnings about the dangers of hateful speech have
long been the subject of religious teachings. One of the practices of the Buddhist eight-fold path is
“right speech” meaning that a practitioner endeavors always to be mindful of
what she says so as not to harm others.
One of the Ten Commandments exhorts God’s people, “Do not bear false
witness against your neighbor.”
Judaism, Christianity and Islam all try to keep that commandment. In the Hindu tradition, the doctrine of
karma suggests that you will reap what you sew in everything you do and say in
this life, so that hateful, demeaning speech against others will boomerang back
at the speaker at some point in the long cycle of human and world history. In the Bahai tradition, gossip is a
particularly grievous sin and something that Bahais are taught to avoid at all
costs. Most religious traditions
understand and teach that while you may have a right to think whatever you
choose, and, in free democracies, the right to say it or write it, it is not
always the case that you should exercise that right. The mere fact that you can
do it does not suggest that you should
do it. All religious traditions
revere the practice of silence. Sages from the dawn of time have
learned that curbing the human tongue is often good for everyone.
Religion is often blamed for fomenting hatred and
violence in our world. The fact is
that our religious traditions are equally significant sources of wisdom about
how to live in loving community with one another. Monastic traditions through the ages have taught their
initiates the importance of “custody of the tongue.” While we may not all agree on much when it comes to
religious doctrines or practices, the practice of mindful speech and refraining
from “false witness” is widely accepted.
It is possible to engage in reasoned discourse in a free society without
insulting and demeaning those with whom we disagree. When we fail to
do that we hurt ourselves as much as those we purport to demean. Candidate Romney learned that hard
lesson in the past few weeks, as ill considered words he uttered came back to
haunt him and severely damage his campaign.
In a world awash in words, words, words on TV,
YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, newspapers, magazines, radio, it might be time to
revisit the wisdom of the religious sages of ages past. Take a mini-vow of
silence and speak only when words will enhance the quality of communal life and
deepen compassion for friend and stranger.
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