On Political Panic, Part 1 

I don’t very often post political things on social media or on this blog. There’s plenty of noise out there already, and I’m no more qualified to speak on political issues than the next guy. I also find that in the current polarized environment, taking a public political position results in half the country refusing to listen to anything you say for the next forever, and my effectiveness at carrying out the Great Commission, and at ministering to hurting people in other ways, is infinitely more important to me than my preferred candidate’s winning in this or that election. 

Some years ago I began a political-sounding post on Facebook with this statement: 

This is not a political post. It’s a discipleship post. 

The rest of today’s post is offered in that spirit. 

We all know that the US appears to be polarized, angry, and intolerant, across the political spectrum, and that this polarization is particularly evident on social media. Pretty much every post that takes a political position is soon followed with a string of comments filled with anger, name-calling, and invective, rehashing the same ideas that are in all the strings of comments on other posts. Some people seem to thrive on that, even to live for it. Eventually many others try to avoid it, either by unfriending or blocking certain people or just staying off Facebook or Twitter/X entirely. 

I’d like to offer a few observations on the situation, for what they’re worth. 

First, I try not to see comment threads as statistically significant. (That’s what my first post on this blog was about.) I have a lot of FB friends, plenty enough, and across the political spectrum, to be a statistically reliable database. And I note that my friends—and I do count them friends—who are making the most noise are relatively few; for a certain subset of my friends—and I do count them friends—I know what position they’re going to take, and how emotionally laden they’re going to be, before I read what they say. And I note, importantly, that not everyone making the most noise out there is an empty barrel. (Here’s looking at you, Paul. And Bob. :-) ) But most people stay out of the fray, I assume because they’re spending their time on efforts they view as more valuable for them. I conclude that the polarization and rage are not as pervasive as they appear. 

I’d also suggest some biblical insights that could help all of us find a higher degree of peace. 

Everybody’s a combination of two deeply powerful and effectual characteristics. First, everybody is in the image of God. Everybody. Including all the people you and I disagree with on social media. That means that everybody should be heard and respected. Taunting is a violation of this principle. So is posting something just to irk somebody else, to “stick it to the” whoevers. 

Respect. 

Secondly, everybody is an imperfect incarnation of God’s original design for humans. More commonly we say that everyone is fallen, is broken, is a sinner. We call that “original sin.” That includes me, and it includes you—and if the truth be told, we are the ones mostly likely to know how deeply that brokenness goes in us. We need to tell the truth to and about ourselves. 

Now, that means that every political candidate is a mixture of great good and great evil. Sometimes he (or she) is right, and sometimes he (or she) is wrong. Everybody’s like that. 

The tendency of political fans is to denounce everything “the other guy” says or does, and to affirm (or excuse, if you have to) everything “our guy” says or does. That’s unbiblical, and because it’s unbiblical, it’s foolish and doomed to make one look foolish in the long run, if not immediately. 

Next time, one further thought on the apocalypticism of it all. 

Photo by Usman Yousaf on Unsplash