For the political elites, truth is not the goal, but political advantage. For Twitter-hounds, truth is not the goal, but one-upmanship. The air is filled with put-downs, criss-crossing memes, and the incessant stench of sarcasm.
A significant portion of the populace has succumbed to a virulent form of cynicism. All sorts of things become justifiable in our minds once we have decided there's a war on and nothing matters but that our side wins.
It's not simply that one leader or another has crossed some line we wish hadn't been crossed. It's that the lines have all been smudged, and we've all contributed to that. The psychology on display reminds me of the run-up to the French Revolution or something.
Everyone has a theory to explain the rot. It's the Deep State, it's the media elites, it's Russia, it's the deplorables. The despising is everywhere.
An ethic of give-and-take, of working together, of making compromises, seems foolishly optimistic. A rigorous ethic of truth-telling without spin, without propaganda, would be salutary. A careful avoidance of sarcasm, name-calling, or vituperative outbursts, would help too. But all that seems utterly naive. Nonsense talk.
As Christians, we should probably not expect this of the wider culture, but we should expect it of ourselves. I suppose the president joking in a public forum about how one congresswoman's deceased husband may be in hell would be a small example of the kind of thing we ought to avoid. It was in itself inconsequential, a passing moment, just a leaf in the storm, just an iota in the endless screed, but one that should make us stop and think: maybe we should return to a tactic of grace instead of sneering, of charity instead of hate.
I mean to police my own speech, but I pray that other Christians would do the same. Too many of us have traded the Gospel for a political agenda, and instead of being shining lights we are merely carrying water for the powers of this world.
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