Civility of Discourse?

Ok, I can't ignore this any longer. After the recent tragedy in Tuscon, things are predictably the same in Washington. By that I mean, that the code of "Never let a crisis go to waste" is being followed once again.

Now, I am not talking about the anti-gun crowd that comes out of the woodwork every time something like this happens. We expect, and I hope, ignore these ignorant, though possibly well meaning people to come forward and say that tighter gun laws would have stopped this massacre. I am not here to argue that issue.

Much more disturbing and at the same time laughable is this call to civil discourse. The idea that somehow we now need to "police" our words, so that we do not incite some "mentally imbalanced" person to commit a horrible crime. I have been listening to news anchors, talk radio hosts and politicians stumble over themselves in an effort to "neutralize" their language.

Words like "explosion, target, impact, kill, destroy etc, ad infinitum ad nauseum, have now been banned from all civilized language! Really?? This is the answer? When will it stop? Is it really possible that all words with negative meaning will be banned from our speech? Should I be afraid to tell someone that I beat my son at checkers for fear that someone will think I actually hit him? Should be ban the words "Shoot, or Shot" from a basketball games for fear one of the players will think we mean a gun and not the ball?

Not only is this laughable, but it is impossible!! As A Christian I would have to stop reading my Bible! Do you know how much negative language is in there? For example; we should probably stop quoting Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Some mentally imbalanced person might get the wrong idea!

Are the inmates running the asylum? When the possible action of the insane or disturbed starts to dictate what we say, then they are controlling us!

I am not in favor of incendiary language. I do not believe we should use our words to encourage anyone to do harm to another person. That being said, I refuse to scrub my language clean of any words which happen to have forceful definitions! I still like to see the underdog "clobber" the other team in a basketball game. I still think lazy employees should be "fired". I am not inciting to violence; I am using language that has been used for years to express emotion or outcome.

I for one am not going to go around tripping over my tongue in fear of saying something that could possibly be taken the wrong way. I don't want to say things that are inappropriate, and I want God to be honored with my conversation, but I will not allow the politicians in Washington, to tell me to remove certain words from my vocabulary in the name of "civil discourse" However, it sure is fun to watch them do so!