Forum: Trying to suppress others’ speech can backfire on us

Published 1:30 am Saturday, September 17, 2022

By Dan Hazen / Herald Forum

When did we start perceiving speech as dangerous? Yes, humans have always engaged in censorship, propaganda and violent repression of speech, but I’m asking when it happened to us … to this generation occupying the U.S. right now? It seems we’re afraid of letting each other speak.

In recent weeks (right here in the vaunted pages of the Daily Herald) I read a story about a local city councilman who was the subject of a formal investigation. No crimes or policy violations were found, but he may face calls to resign because his speech has been labeled “under-informed” on matters which the investigators held a different opinion. Letter writers suggest that Herald editors should silence columnists who say things they don’t agree with about public school responses to the pandemic. A plaque commemorating the 1855 Point Elliot Treaty (a deeply shadowed and profoundly complex event in our shared history with the first inhabitants of the region) spurs debate about what can be said about history and what cannot. The left labels anything that ruffles their feathers as “hate speech” or “disinformation” and the right flies into a panic if it’s even suggested that there’s such a thing as racism or that the American Economic Game is played with a stacked deck.

I feel the fear. I don’t like it when my ideas are challenged. I feel weak and stupid. I’m scared that if I admit I’m wrong I’ll be ridiculed. I’m scared that my opponent will challenge everything else I believe. I’m scared they’ll find out I’m too tired (or lazy) to really research my position. I’m scared of something dark inside me being exposed. I’m scared that I won’t belong anymore. You know what? They’re the same fears I had in middle school. I’m scared of being an outcast.

The problem is, these fears obscure the fact that silencing your “opponent” accelerates their impulse to shout crazier ideas even louder.

The extreme-right nationalist mob emerged from a decades-long, low-key effort to keep the “uneducated, low-class deplorables” from messing up the nice, clean progressive landscape. What used to be the mainstream-left wanted the lawn kept neat, the hedge trimmed and the dandelions under control. But the roommates kept putting out garden gnomes and pink flamingos. It embarrassed the left, but rather than talking about it, (or seeing the value of some yard art) they just kept sneaking out at night and tossing them away. Eventually the right figured it out and got pissed. They’ve been dumping old appliances and pouring gas on the lawn ever since.

The extreme-left neo-fascist gangs formed around the shared experience of centuries of (sometimes violent) fixing-of-the-game by the majority. What used to be conservatism wanted to keep adding on to the house: a hot tub; a home theater. But the roommates kept annoyingly pointing out that life in the basement included leaky pipes, black mold and inadequate heat. It embarrassed the right, and rather than stopping to fix what was broken, they blamed the roommates for “choosing” to live in the basement. Eventually the left figured it out and got pissed. They’ve been trying to tear down the whole house (onto their own heads) ever since.

This is our shared home, people. Stop trying to shut-up your roommates and start listening.

Dan Hazen is the community pastor at Allen Creek Community Church in Marysville.