‘Get Tough or Shut Up’: The Malicious Spirit Loose in the Land

Our culture is more fragile than our Constitution, and the people who care the most have lost their moorings.

‘Get Tough or Shut Up’: The Malicious Spirit Loose in the Land PT9LFC

‘Get Tough or Shut Up’: The Malicious Spirit Loose in the Land PT9LFC

Sometimes, small stories can tell us big things. Last week, I had a telling conversation with a young Evangelical mom of three. I was a customer at her workplace, and we were making all the normal small talk. She asked about my kids, where they went to school, and if I was sad to see my youngest go to college. Then she asked what I did. I told her that I write for a conservative political magazine.

She gave me the strangest look, then fell silent. After a moment she asked, “What do you write about?”

“Well, today I wrote a piece criticizing Trump’s response to the violence in Charlottesville. Yesterday I wrote . . . ”

Before I could finish my answer, her eyes welled up with tears. “You feel okay criticizing Trump? The people I work with love him, and they’re so mean about it. No one can say one thing critical. Not one thing. They’ll get angry and yell. It’s terrible.”

Yes, it’s just one story — from one young mom who lives in the heart of Trump country. But it’s indicative of our age. Our political culture is losing any sense of proportion. Political rage is transcending basic human decency, any semblance of tolerance, and even faith itself. It’s a general truth in politics and culture that a nation is defined by those who care the most, and increasingly, those who care the most have lost their moorings. There is a malicious spirit loose in the land.

We’ve certainly seen it on the left. Google’s recent decision to fire an employee for wrongthink is all too indicative of a progressive political culture that’s not content merely to disagree with dissenters. People in error have to be called out, investigated, shamed, and punished. The deeper you move into the ideological cocoon, the less tolerance there is for debate.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/450739/free-speech-attacks-come-both-sides

‘Get Tough or Shut Up’: The Malicious Spirit Loose in the Land

‘Get Tough or Shut Up’: The Malicious Spirit Loose in the Land

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