Not long ago I tweeted this:
Things you cannot say without getting into a lot of trouble-
“Bomb” in the security line at the airport
“Fire!” in a crowded, fire-less theater.
“He’s a he” about a man in a dress.
We live in a world that seems to have gone mad. If we would, however, be as shrewd as serpents we would remember that there is a method to their madness. The seething, screeching screeds of melting snowflakes have a specific purpose- to get us to censor ourselves. Like a baby that knows it can get the candy it craves at the grocery store by having a meltdown, so Gramsci’s warrior children know that their ideological opponents, us, don’t care for drama, being hated on, scenes, and will do just about anything to steer clear of them. Including censor ourselves.
If I’m in a room full of conservatives I know that if I raise the slightest question about some proposed military action all reason and decorum will flee the room instantly. So I censor myself. If I’ve wandered into a meeting of egalitarian Christian ladies I know I won’t get out alive if I opine that John Piper’s writing has blessed me. So I censor myself.
Neither war hawks nor theology hens, however, can hold a candle to left wings when it comes to raising a ruckus. Just ask JK Rowling. She was kind enough to the left in 2007 to put Dumbledore into the closet so she could let him out. This wasn’t enough to protect her from Cancel Culture’s guillotine when she recently had the temerity to suggest that only women menstruate. The vitriol against her was off the charts.
The goal, here, however, isn’t to stop JK Rowling. The goal is to stop you and me. Just as totalitarian regimes put on show trials to frighten the innocent, so the left uses its capacity and willingness to spew bile in the name of safe spaces to keep sanity silent. They don’t care what Rowling says. They do care that the rest of us learn to never say it.
We, as we are wont to do, rationalize our sin. We call our cowardice compassion. We remember that we are to be humble, to not give undue offense, to have our language seasoned with salt, to walk the extra mile and turn it all into an excuse to stay safe from the maddening crowds. We refuse, in our sin, to call sin sin, and therefore have no reason to call anyone to repent and believe. We censor ourselves.
Our Lord went silent to His slaughter. That slaughter came to Him, however, because He faithfully preached the message His Father gave Him. We, on the other hand, use our silence to escape slaughter and preach not at all. He has warned us that He will not confess us if we will not confess Him. Lord, open our lips, that our mouths might proclaim Your praise, and that we might receive the blessing of suffering for and with You.