On Charged Language

¶On Injustice

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

To deny that as Americans we have finshed the work sparked by MLK is to deny the deaths of many of our fellow Americans, unarmed, gunned-downed, and murdered. In. Cold. Blood.

Let me lay my cards on the table; As a middle aged white protestant male, I epitomize an outsider to this community. However, I will not not look my children in the eye and say: “I did nothing.” Furthermore, I wont just say well I told my friend on social media its wrong as many digital natives are content to do. Social Media is a start; it is not enough. A thoughtful, well-crafted, long-form blog post is a start; it is not enough.

So for now I am calling my fellow white bretheren and acting as an agent of change from inside. I check back with a core group of people who help keep me in check, but generally I am rolling up my sleeves and calling my white family living in the South. I am calling members of my church. I am calling white people in my city.

I am bringing up friendly conversations, but where I take on the side of the marginalized. If I don’t, then who?.

As a man of privelige, aka: a white man in America, I can go where Chris Rock ^[1], Neil deGrasse Tyson on Wikipedia, Will Smith, Morgan Freeman, Samuel Jackson, nor even the great Denzel Washington (though he comes close) can go: into the homes of white people in the South to act on the behalf of love for all Americans.

¶On Hate Speech

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches

If I were to say: “Nazi’s are evil,” no doubt a lot of people would agree - based on some creiteria. But you better believe that some people are going to find that phrase hurtful. The point is not whether you agree or disagree with my statement but rather on the topic of whether you find the phrase as hate speech. Because if I said that “Black people steal things” it is equally chareged but in a different direction.

Ideally, hate speech would need some type of objective definition - different than the extent of which the hearer is offended.

But why dwell on hate speech too long. I would argue it is incapable of creating lasting change. I would even go further as the only thing we will get from trying to define, police, and prosecute hate speech is many heels dug in to unsettling ground everywhere.

“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”
― Elie Wiesel

¶Using “Evil”

“In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand fold in the future. When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956

Defining racism^[2]: the implicit or explicit behavior that prefers one people group over another.

Interestingly enough, “hate speech” and “evil” both require some level of judgement over their subjects.

¶Using “Divine AI”

I recent
https://www.wired.com/story/god-is-a-bot-and-anthony-levandowski-is-his-messenger

¶Cargo Cult on AI

as computers move from largely deterministic systems to evolutionary biology. Way of the Future - non profit relgious organization.

¶The Requirement of Thinking

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.”
― Voltaire, Questions sur les Miracles à M. Claparede, Professeur de Théologie à Genève, par un Proposant: Ou Extrait de Diverses Lettres de M. de Voltaire

“Now there is a final reason that Jesus says, “Love your enemies.” It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. Just keep being friendly to that person. Just keep loving them, and they can’t stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they’ll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That’s love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies. (from “Loving Your Enemies”)”
― Martin Luther King Jr., A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.

¶But I am but 1 person, What Can I Do?

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

¶Identity

Where are you from? What are your traditions? Most importantly what are your values? As a Christian there is an incredible galvanizing.

¶Be The Change

As mentioned before, I can go where many others can not simply because I lack color, and simply because many people are still only comfortable with mirror images of themselves. I take The Gospel - AND its implications behind close doors and allow the Holy Spirit to do its work. Like the apostle Paul taking audience with fundamental Jews of antiquity, White people everywhere, who understand the bloodline of Christ is deeper than any ethnic or racial divide, are compelled to be light in the darkness. We are compelled to show love not indifference. We are compelled to be the Love of Christ. God has already judged mankind and found us wanting.

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