BeeSting Alergy
2015-05-25 14:03:21 UTC
The contentious issues of our time require honesty, not the bludgeon
approach.
by Kathryn Jean Lopez
May 25, 2015
National Review Online
http://bit.ly/1HGgaE2
I ran into Kirsten Powers briefly in Washington, D.C., the other day,
and afterwards, I thought to myself: I hope she knows she is a profile
in courage.
The more I got to know actual conservative and religious people, the
harder it was to justify the stereotypes I had carelessly embraced,
Powers writes in her new book, The Silencing: How the Left Is Killing
Free Speech.
In her early days at Fox, she writes, I can remember trying to
convince a conservative there that George Bushs nomination of Harriet
Miers to the Supreme Court didnt really count as a female appointment
because she was conservative and an evangelical Christian.
He was horrified, she writes. And she was confused as to why he
would be horrified.
Today Powers is embarrassed that I ever thought such a thing, let
alone said it aloud.
Such a prejudiced view was only able to take root because of the lack
of ideological, political, and religious diversity in my world.
In her book, Powers chronicles the impulse among those on the left to
shut down speech they disagree with, crafting policies that mandate
certain actions and reduce freedom, as weve seen in the battles over
religious freedom under Barack Obamas administration.
This intolerance isnt liberalism but a tyrannical impulse, often
masked by words like freedom and tolerance. An unveiling of this could
do us good. But not if we stay in ideological silos: What we need is
open discussion across ideological lines.
John Carr, who used to work for the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops, started a forum at Georgetown when he retired from the USCCB a
few years ago; his idea was to bring people of different political
stripes together. On one of his panels I sat next to a bishop I had
previously mostly known as the sign-off on criticisms of Paul Ryans
budgets. But when we sat down and discussed Pope Francis and poverty,
it turned out we had a lot in common.
When we can take a moment to encounter another person and begin to
develop a relationship, with a little honesty, something beautiful
might just happen.
It was a wonderful thing, similarly, when Carrs initiative brought
President Obama to Georgetown together with Arthur Brooks of the
American Enterprise Institute. Unfortunately, the president managed yet
again to impugn the motives of those he disagrees with. Thats such a
human thing to do. But its also unnecessary and unhelpful. And its
certainly not Christian. I do it more often than I would wish, and I
apologize for that. Maybe we could all make an effort not to do it as
much as we do?
Powers is a profile in courage because she aims for the truth. She is
eminently humble. If the truth takes her down a road she hadnt
considered, shell consult some experts, take a look, and, as youve
seen, even apologize. Apologize!
That doesnt mean you have to water anything down. It does mean
admitting that were human and that we get things wrong now and again,
even in what we thought were our best defenses of whats true and good.
Ive seen this tyrannical impulse on the right, too. Recently, a
colleague of mine wrote something I disagree with on marriage.
Obviously, whether marriage is between a man and a woman is a debate we
are having in the United States right now. There are some who would
prefer not to hold a debate, but rather to have a judicial and legal
bludgeon come down and beat people who take the traditional view into
submission until our children are all trained from their earliest
schooldays that not only marriage but even gender is flexible. Some
have questioned National Reviews hiring practices, for making it
possible that dissenting thinking on such a subject could ever
infiltrate our masthead; others simply dismiss the author and call him
names.
Kirsten Powers knows this well on the left. How about, for those of us
on the right, instead of the incivility, we make compelling arguments?
How about, for those on the traditional side, we hold up the good of
marriage, and what it does for families, and why it is different from
other loving relationships, and specific and needed and even possible
in the world today? This surely is more inviting than the bludgeon
approach.
Truth is like a threshing-machine; tender sensibilities must keep out
of the way, Herman Melville wrote in The Confidence Man. When I asked
Philadelphia archbishop Charles J. Chaput why he used that line to open
an e-book on religious freedom a few years ago, he talked about the
need for civility and honesty in our public discourse.
He talked about the need for charity and respect for others, then
emphasized the need for truth: The truth can be difficult, so we often
want to soften its edges. But this just wastes time and compounds our
problems. Candor can be uncomfortable in the short run, but its much
healthier in the long run.
The point is this, he continued: We need to be frank with each other
as Christian adults, frank in our public witness, and frank in our own
self-criticism. Again, we also need to be prudent and kind but not at
the expense of courage, and not at the expense of speaking the truth.
In the last year or so, some people have been wildly appropriating
while others have been equally wildly rebuking quotes from Pope
Francis. Who am I to judge? is one of them that has come to mean very
different things to different people, often clouded by ideological
hopes and fears. However, listening to him on an almost daily basis is
a much more interesting endeavor: His words bring light to places that
have been impenetrable, so that truth even about what the pope he is
actually saying might just be able to get at the business of healing.
In The Silencing, Powers quotes my colleague David French reflecting on
what he has seen on campuses: anti-Christian discrimination can be
reflexive, and a little bit of intellectual diversity can go a long
way towards reversing its effects. Even among friends, biases can be
deeply ingrained.
The moral of the story is simple, Powers concludes. We should all
make efforts to invite people who hold different views into our worlds.
Contrary to popular thought, familiarity doesnt breed contempt. It
breeds understanding and tolerance. Now, go make some unlikely friends.
This certainly sounds better than what weve often got!
-----------
Just so you know.
approach.
by Kathryn Jean Lopez
May 25, 2015
National Review Online
http://bit.ly/1HGgaE2
I ran into Kirsten Powers briefly in Washington, D.C., the other day,
and afterwards, I thought to myself: I hope she knows she is a profile
in courage.
The more I got to know actual conservative and religious people, the
harder it was to justify the stereotypes I had carelessly embraced,
Powers writes in her new book, The Silencing: How the Left Is Killing
Free Speech.
In her early days at Fox, she writes, I can remember trying to
convince a conservative there that George Bushs nomination of Harriet
Miers to the Supreme Court didnt really count as a female appointment
because she was conservative and an evangelical Christian.
He was horrified, she writes. And she was confused as to why he
would be horrified.
Today Powers is embarrassed that I ever thought such a thing, let
alone said it aloud.
Such a prejudiced view was only able to take root because of the lack
of ideological, political, and religious diversity in my world.
In her book, Powers chronicles the impulse among those on the left to
shut down speech they disagree with, crafting policies that mandate
certain actions and reduce freedom, as weve seen in the battles over
religious freedom under Barack Obamas administration.
This intolerance isnt liberalism but a tyrannical impulse, often
masked by words like freedom and tolerance. An unveiling of this could
do us good. But not if we stay in ideological silos: What we need is
open discussion across ideological lines.
John Carr, who used to work for the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops, started a forum at Georgetown when he retired from the USCCB a
few years ago; his idea was to bring people of different political
stripes together. On one of his panels I sat next to a bishop I had
previously mostly known as the sign-off on criticisms of Paul Ryans
budgets. But when we sat down and discussed Pope Francis and poverty,
it turned out we had a lot in common.
When we can take a moment to encounter another person and begin to
develop a relationship, with a little honesty, something beautiful
might just happen.
It was a wonderful thing, similarly, when Carrs initiative brought
President Obama to Georgetown together with Arthur Brooks of the
American Enterprise Institute. Unfortunately, the president managed yet
again to impugn the motives of those he disagrees with. Thats such a
human thing to do. But its also unnecessary and unhelpful. And its
certainly not Christian. I do it more often than I would wish, and I
apologize for that. Maybe we could all make an effort not to do it as
much as we do?
Powers is a profile in courage because she aims for the truth. She is
eminently humble. If the truth takes her down a road she hadnt
considered, shell consult some experts, take a look, and, as youve
seen, even apologize. Apologize!
That doesnt mean you have to water anything down. It does mean
admitting that were human and that we get things wrong now and again,
even in what we thought were our best defenses of whats true and good.
Ive seen this tyrannical impulse on the right, too. Recently, a
colleague of mine wrote something I disagree with on marriage.
Obviously, whether marriage is between a man and a woman is a debate we
are having in the United States right now. There are some who would
prefer not to hold a debate, but rather to have a judicial and legal
bludgeon come down and beat people who take the traditional view into
submission until our children are all trained from their earliest
schooldays that not only marriage but even gender is flexible. Some
have questioned National Reviews hiring practices, for making it
possible that dissenting thinking on such a subject could ever
infiltrate our masthead; others simply dismiss the author and call him
names.
Kirsten Powers knows this well on the left. How about, for those of us
on the right, instead of the incivility, we make compelling arguments?
How about, for those on the traditional side, we hold up the good of
marriage, and what it does for families, and why it is different from
other loving relationships, and specific and needed and even possible
in the world today? This surely is more inviting than the bludgeon
approach.
Truth is like a threshing-machine; tender sensibilities must keep out
of the way, Herman Melville wrote in The Confidence Man. When I asked
Philadelphia archbishop Charles J. Chaput why he used that line to open
an e-book on religious freedom a few years ago, he talked about the
need for civility and honesty in our public discourse.
He talked about the need for charity and respect for others, then
emphasized the need for truth: The truth can be difficult, so we often
want to soften its edges. But this just wastes time and compounds our
problems. Candor can be uncomfortable in the short run, but its much
healthier in the long run.
The point is this, he continued: We need to be frank with each other
as Christian adults, frank in our public witness, and frank in our own
self-criticism. Again, we also need to be prudent and kind but not at
the expense of courage, and not at the expense of speaking the truth.
In the last year or so, some people have been wildly appropriating
while others have been equally wildly rebuking quotes from Pope
Francis. Who am I to judge? is one of them that has come to mean very
different things to different people, often clouded by ideological
hopes and fears. However, listening to him on an almost daily basis is
a much more interesting endeavor: His words bring light to places that
have been impenetrable, so that truth even about what the pope he is
actually saying might just be able to get at the business of healing.
In The Silencing, Powers quotes my colleague David French reflecting on
what he has seen on campuses: anti-Christian discrimination can be
reflexive, and a little bit of intellectual diversity can go a long
way towards reversing its effects. Even among friends, biases can be
deeply ingrained.
The moral of the story is simple, Powers concludes. We should all
make efforts to invite people who hold different views into our worlds.
Contrary to popular thought, familiarity doesnt breed contempt. It
breeds understanding and tolerance. Now, go make some unlikely friends.
This certainly sounds better than what weve often got!
-----------
Just so you know.