Katrina and Remembering honor in public discourse
Since taking up blogging, I have had a fresh sense of how easily one becomes arrogant and foolish on the web. When a public speaker faces a crowd, he sees when people do not like the way something is said. When speaking face to face, the speaker gets a sense that he is offending someone and often moderates his speech. When a writer writes an article that has to be approved or go through the filter of a publisher, he may be questioned before his words pass into the public forum. But in blogging, the writer sits at his computer and can make a darned fool of himself without anyone to stop him, and without seeing an offended face that makes him think about how and what he is saying. In public, face to face, we generally think of whether or not we are offending people and then determine if the offense is necessary or not. I am grateful that not too many people probably read what I am writing, and at the same time as I like to write I am also grateful that as I blog and read my blogs I am hopefully gradually learning to anticipate what should and should not be said.
I think this will be the last blog I make on Katrina, at least that is my plan. I am thinking especially how leaders and rulers were treated during the past week. The Bible teaches us to honor leaders and rulers among people. It even teaches us to honor people whose positions and stances we must oppose. In Acts 23, we read of how St. Paul spoke before the Jewish council. When Ananias ordered Paul to be smitten before the council, Paul answered, "God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law?" The people standing by said to Paul, "Revilest thou God's High Priest?" Then Paul replied, "I knew not brethren, that he was the high priest, for it is written, "Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people." (Acts 23:1-5) Paul wrote elsewhere to Christians saying, "Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves." (Romans 13:1-2). Many scholars as well as strong ancient traditions believe that St. Paul wrote these words while Nero was Emperor of the Roman Empire. God has established leaders and leaders are to be honored although we are to sin for no man or woman.
We live in an era when the ordinary citizen sees it as his right to ridicule public officials. This occurs on all sides of the political spectrum. In this past week, we heard a number of political leaders criticized. It is healthy to raise questions about political issues, but for the Christian there is a responsibility to honor those unto whom honor is fitting. Governing authorities surely are among those to whom this honor is due. I apologize wherever my words passed the bar from addressing issues with which I honestly disagreed with a leader and attacking a leader. I think there is a difference between disrespecting a leader and voicing a concern of how an issue is being discharged. But there is a point where public debate of an issue becomes a baseless attack on character and the person of the officeholder. When such attacks are made, we will most surely give an account one day before God whether or not our society considers such attacks as sin or not.
Our public discourse in the past week has seen political opportunism on all sides of the political spectrum. We have heard the President spoken of almost as if he planned on drowning victims in the hurricane. We have also heard the Right Wing talk show people speak without any sense of how sometimes in the midst of a crisis people will say things that perhaps they may later regret. I think especially of the Mayor of New Orleans. Did he speak too strongly and with too heated words? There are those who were ready to pounce on every word he spoke and critique his words as if he were speaking such strong words in a staged political debate. The President should probably expect strong words and even inappropriate words in the midst of a crisis. I went through one spring in which in the first days of spring my family buried my mother, and in the last days of spring we buried our father. Tragedy generally distorts how we view the world and how we speak to others. Yes, we should be perfect, but let those who are cast the first stone. In crisis, you are extremely thankful for every good deed and also extremely critical of every failure to do a good deed you imagined that should have been done. I am dismayed at talk show hosts who from a distance expected the local civic leaders of some of the areas affected by the hurricane to simply be above all human frailty as they expressed their pain and disappointment. Without trivializing the genuine criticisms that could be expressed in regards to how the tragedy was handled, one should regard with some charity the words of those civic leaders who were faced with a devastating tragedy. My thoughts go especially to leaders of New Orleans, without trying to deny the tragedy that affected countless other communities in the Gulf region. If we can accept for a moment that many of these leaders had a special pride in their city, its port, its restaurants, its blues and jazz contributions to American culture, and a love for the people of what they regarded as "their city" then I think we could feel a little bit of their sense of horrendous loss as "their city" drowned.
Now would be a good time for Americans of every political persuasion to recognize to carefully draw the line between holding different political perspectives and plotting to make political hay by attacking and disrespecting public officials. Now would be a good time to begin remembering carrying out political discussion and even disagreement with a sense of paying honor to one another and seeking to believe good about an opponent whenever it is possible.
There is probably plenty of blame to be shared by federal, state and local officials. Local leaders knew their city was vulnerable. State leaders did not always face their responsibilities, and the federal government took away funds promised to the levee system and responded poorly in the opening days of the crisis. But, that is how we human beings are. We often treat a potential danger lightly and then cry about how prepared those around us should have been when that danger actually did arrive. I grew up in Illinois. In the nineteenth century, the city of Chicago had a scheduled meeting about the need for better fire protection. Unfortunately the meeting had to be postponed after Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked a lantern (according to the account of folklore) and the city of Chicago was mostly burned to the ground. I wish I had seen New Orleans before this flood. I wish I had been able to sit and enjoy a true bluesman entertaining an audience. But now all I can do is hope and pray that city leaders, state legislators, Louisiana Congressional and Senate leaders can rise to the occasion and make the nation proud of their leadership as literally more than a million people in the Gulf region try to regroup their lives and communities. Louisiana has often been regarded as a state with less than stellar leadership. Whatever the past may have been my hope now is that every person in leadership in Louisiana as well as Mississippi and Alabama might rise to the occasion in this hour. We can debate the issues soon enough, but for now let us just give ordinary human beings in places of authority and leadership enough honor that they might be able to recognize the respect we give them and feel duty bound to respond to such respect. We sometimes forget that about leaders. They are human and if they feel that whatever they do they will not be respected they will likely view their charge differently than if they know that despite all their shortcomings that a nation and their locales are looking to them for hope and direction to rebuild a devastated region.
This is one blog that as I finish it, I hope others will see some wisdom in its words.
Dan McDonald.
I think this will be the last blog I make on Katrina, at least that is my plan. I am thinking especially how leaders and rulers were treated during the past week. The Bible teaches us to honor leaders and rulers among people. It even teaches us to honor people whose positions and stances we must oppose. In Acts 23, we read of how St. Paul spoke before the Jewish council. When Ananias ordered Paul to be smitten before the council, Paul answered, "God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law?" The people standing by said to Paul, "Revilest thou God's High Priest?" Then Paul replied, "I knew not brethren, that he was the high priest, for it is written, "Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people." (Acts 23:1-5) Paul wrote elsewhere to Christians saying, "Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves." (Romans 13:1-2). Many scholars as well as strong ancient traditions believe that St. Paul wrote these words while Nero was Emperor of the Roman Empire. God has established leaders and leaders are to be honored although we are to sin for no man or woman.
We live in an era when the ordinary citizen sees it as his right to ridicule public officials. This occurs on all sides of the political spectrum. In this past week, we heard a number of political leaders criticized. It is healthy to raise questions about political issues, but for the Christian there is a responsibility to honor those unto whom honor is fitting. Governing authorities surely are among those to whom this honor is due. I apologize wherever my words passed the bar from addressing issues with which I honestly disagreed with a leader and attacking a leader. I think there is a difference between disrespecting a leader and voicing a concern of how an issue is being discharged. But there is a point where public debate of an issue becomes a baseless attack on character and the person of the officeholder. When such attacks are made, we will most surely give an account one day before God whether or not our society considers such attacks as sin or not.
Our public discourse in the past week has seen political opportunism on all sides of the political spectrum. We have heard the President spoken of almost as if he planned on drowning victims in the hurricane. We have also heard the Right Wing talk show people speak without any sense of how sometimes in the midst of a crisis people will say things that perhaps they may later regret. I think especially of the Mayor of New Orleans. Did he speak too strongly and with too heated words? There are those who were ready to pounce on every word he spoke and critique his words as if he were speaking such strong words in a staged political debate. The President should probably expect strong words and even inappropriate words in the midst of a crisis. I went through one spring in which in the first days of spring my family buried my mother, and in the last days of spring we buried our father. Tragedy generally distorts how we view the world and how we speak to others. Yes, we should be perfect, but let those who are cast the first stone. In crisis, you are extremely thankful for every good deed and also extremely critical of every failure to do a good deed you imagined that should have been done. I am dismayed at talk show hosts who from a distance expected the local civic leaders of some of the areas affected by the hurricane to simply be above all human frailty as they expressed their pain and disappointment. Without trivializing the genuine criticisms that could be expressed in regards to how the tragedy was handled, one should regard with some charity the words of those civic leaders who were faced with a devastating tragedy. My thoughts go especially to leaders of New Orleans, without trying to deny the tragedy that affected countless other communities in the Gulf region. If we can accept for a moment that many of these leaders had a special pride in their city, its port, its restaurants, its blues and jazz contributions to American culture, and a love for the people of what they regarded as "their city" then I think we could feel a little bit of their sense of horrendous loss as "their city" drowned.
Now would be a good time for Americans of every political persuasion to recognize to carefully draw the line between holding different political perspectives and plotting to make political hay by attacking and disrespecting public officials. Now would be a good time to begin remembering carrying out political discussion and even disagreement with a sense of paying honor to one another and seeking to believe good about an opponent whenever it is possible.
There is probably plenty of blame to be shared by federal, state and local officials. Local leaders knew their city was vulnerable. State leaders did not always face their responsibilities, and the federal government took away funds promised to the levee system and responded poorly in the opening days of the crisis. But, that is how we human beings are. We often treat a potential danger lightly and then cry about how prepared those around us should have been when that danger actually did arrive. I grew up in Illinois. In the nineteenth century, the city of Chicago had a scheduled meeting about the need for better fire protection. Unfortunately the meeting had to be postponed after Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked a lantern (according to the account of folklore) and the city of Chicago was mostly burned to the ground. I wish I had seen New Orleans before this flood. I wish I had been able to sit and enjoy a true bluesman entertaining an audience. But now all I can do is hope and pray that city leaders, state legislators, Louisiana Congressional and Senate leaders can rise to the occasion and make the nation proud of their leadership as literally more than a million people in the Gulf region try to regroup their lives and communities. Louisiana has often been regarded as a state with less than stellar leadership. Whatever the past may have been my hope now is that every person in leadership in Louisiana as well as Mississippi and Alabama might rise to the occasion in this hour. We can debate the issues soon enough, but for now let us just give ordinary human beings in places of authority and leadership enough honor that they might be able to recognize the respect we give them and feel duty bound to respond to such respect. We sometimes forget that about leaders. They are human and if they feel that whatever they do they will not be respected they will likely view their charge differently than if they know that despite all their shortcomings that a nation and their locales are looking to them for hope and direction to rebuild a devastated region.
This is one blog that as I finish it, I hope others will see some wisdom in its words.
Dan McDonald.
posted by Dan McDonald | 10:01 PM
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