Christians and Cancel Culture

Welcome to Thinking Christian with Dr. James Spencer and me, Richard Beatty, on Life Audio. And today, what's going on on college campuses and just about everywhere? This is really about free speech and the discourse or the debate, which has gone quickly from a civil debate to some fear that's going on in people's lives where they don't want to speak. I did an informal... I was going to tell James about this and I'll ask for forgiveness after. But I did an informal thing. I was driving some of my family home, my daughter and my son-in-law, from Thanksgiving. And you know, it's a three-hour drive and everybody had fallen asleep in the car on the way. And so at first, I was watching people kind of careen through the express lane and the solid lines out, you know, and I was adding up the fines because they're starting to videotape these people. So I mean, there was thousands of dollars that was going to go to state revenue, which I'm all for, especially when it's sin tax, or sin fine, I should say. Right. But after I was entertained by that and there was no express lane, I started thinking about, you know, I haven't done this. I used to do this. I used to kind of look at the bumper stickers on people's cars, you know, because, you know, they're always kind of entertaining. So, and I noticed, you know, 60 or so cars went by. I was starting to count. This is how sick I am. I started watching these cars go by me and I didn't see any bumper stickers for, you know, 62 of them. And then one car goes by, it's all like a RAV4 and it's like falling apart. Sure. And he's got a couple of stickers that I think they were just holding the car together. But he had bumper stickers that said, you know, I had the Colorado license plate sticker that says native, so you're a native Coloradan. That's what it says. And then he had an insurance one on there. So it wasn't really anything that I thought was... He's got nothing fun. Yeah. So, but by the end, I did this on the way there and the way back because my wife fell asleep on the way back. They feel calm when I'm driving, which is kind of nice. That is good. They feel calm enough to sleep. So I'm going back and, you know, I counted 1200 cars and probably about four or five bumper stickers. And I said, what is this saying really about culture right now? Because, I mean, 20 years ago, you know, most cars had some sort of bumper sticker on them, right? So I'm thinking, is there a fear of the free speech of a bumper sticker, right? To put it on. You know, there may be more to that than not. There was a woman who had, that was parked in a school parking lot that my kids were going to. And she had her car keyed because she had a presidential candidate that she was backing. And somebody put a note on the car and said, can't believe that you would really be for these people and be voting for these people. And I'm thinking this fear and intimidation, the silly thing. And, you know, this, this is a person who wasn't very intelligent because they wrote it on back of a receipt that had their King super's card on it, their grocery card on it. So they were able to track that person down and that person wound up paying for the, for the damage they did to this woman's car. So I always, I always liked the end of that story better than thinking about we are afraid. We're afraid that somebody is going to shoot us if we disagree with them. I've been seeing a lot about college campuses and the shutting down of a public speaker that comes in speaking over them. And this is the audience, you know, so this is, these are students who are there to learn something from that person, whether they agree with them or not. So there's more and more going on. And this is part of the canceled culture. What's going on. We're getting canceled for because somebody doesn't agree with us. Right. And so nobody learns anything from that. So what is happening in this regard? And is this again, part of social media? Is it, you know, all of the above the regular media too, in that way. I think, you know, a couple of things just sort of clear the board, you know, self-censorship. When we get concerned that maybe expressing an opinion will have negative social consequences. That's been around for a fairly long time. It isn't a hundred percent clear why self-censorship may be on the rise right now. You know, when, when this is studied as sort of formal issue, you don't really get a lot of clear results as to why people self-censor. It isn't a hundred percent clear. The, probably the most reasonable studies I've seen suggest that it has to do more with our, our sort of micro environments. So instead of, oh my gosh, the government is going to come in and throw me in prison. Right. Which would be sort of a macro environment problem. It's more like my buddy is going to think ill of me. Right. Right. And so it has to do more with our closer knit social arrangements. Now that isn't, you know, a hundred percent the case because they've also shown connections between self-censorship and broader polarized environments. So we're in a very polarized setting right now where you're kind of in an either or situation. And so a lot of people just sort of decline to answer. But I think at its most basic level, self-censorship has to do with a couple of potential things, right? And I say potential seriously. Number one, I think that there is a sense in which as more and more people get shouted down, people will remain silent, not because they're afraid of being shouted down, but because they recognize the futility of speaking in the first place. And so you'll save your conversations for people who are going to contribute to a dialogue with you because you're interested in having a more constructive conversation than those who would shout you down are going to allow. Right. And so it's almost like we're just going to relegate these folks off to the side. This is not, this is no longer a strategic conversation to have. And so I'm going to step back from it. I think the other side of it is just, you know, from a self-censorship perspective, you sit back and you say, I really, it's not about strategy. I just don't want the negative social consequences that come along with speaking out on these issues. Right. And so I think somewhere in that mix, those two factors are surely what go through people's heads. They're certainly what go through mine. As I choose topics to talk about, to write about, to think about those kinds of things, I really do try to, number one, deal with them in a manner that is not polarizing. You really try to stay away from nailing specific people, right, getting into that sort of mess and really trying to deal with the ideas themselves. My interest is the ideas anyway, and it's not defaming people. And so that just makes sort of, that makes sense. But I will say that I also recognize there are certain topics that are sort of unwinnable. Right. In this environment, you know, in that polarized environment, it really isn't about fear. It's just about sitting back and saying, what can I actually say that would sway one side or the other to start a good conversation that won't end with, you know, one group being a heretic and the other being, you know, fully righteous or something like that. And so I think those are the underlying aspects on self-censorship. Now, if we talk about the phenomena of students being allowed to shout down and, quote unquote, cancel people, including sometimes professors and those kind of things, what I would say is, I think it's the modern day equivalent of sit-ins in the 70s. Oh, really? Yeah. I really do. If you think about it, what's happening in the 60s and 70s with sit-ins is a quieter version of what's happening now with cancel culture. And one of the big differences is that in the 60s and 70s, you're only really looking at people who are actually committed to standing against X, Y or Z, or who are more committed to standing against X, Y or Z. It takes effort to get out of your dorm room and go sit somewhere. Right. Right. Most of the time it doesn't take effort to cancel somebody. Yeah. It's a question of clicking a button, liking and sharing with your audience. And so what I think we're getting in this environment is both the effects of polarization, right? You're either right or you're wrong, and there's not a whole lot of gray space in between, particularly in broad public discourse. I think we're getting a mix of that with an ideology.

That says victimhood equals virtue, that there is no unrighteous sufferer, and that if you can demonstrate that you are a victim and that someone else is using their power to oppress you, you are automatically more virtuous. And so those two factors, I think, are really crucial. But then I also think what we're getting is the potential for cheap participation. And I would talk about cheap participation in this way. So if you think about going to the grocery store, right, and at the counter you're paying and you're asked, hey, would you like to round up for X, Y, or Z? You've had this experience, right? So it comes out to be like $0.15 sometimes or whatever it be. And so that's fine. I think people should do that. I think it's not a bad thing to do. The problem comes in when I think that giving my $0.15 on top of what I've already paid for groceries is the only thing I have to do. I've gone in and I've said, no, I give to charity. Right, right. I gave $0.15, $0.10, maybe a penny at the grocery line on top of my existing grocery bill. It took no effort on my part other than to hit a button. I find it difficult to call myself charitable if that's all I'm doing. That's the sort of cheap participation I'm talking about is that we somehow draw a line and say, I'm contributing to the solution at this level. Right, right. And this level is all I really need to do. And so what we are losing is I think we're defaulting to cheap participation when, in fact, what we really need are serious people who go beyond the level of cheap participation to actually dive into these really complex problems and ask ourselves, what is going on with this? It's easy to shout people down. It's easy to share stuff on social media. It's relatively easy to get hit, right? I mean, just write something that's kind of angry or pejorative about a superstar. Yeah, I mean, you know, and I think those factors, Richard, are what are all contributing to this sort of activism on college campuses. And that's where I would class it as. It's activism. It's the active participation in confronting ideologies that college students tend to disagree with. Now, let's face it, that is just bad math as far as rounding up, because, you know, if it is, you know, like, let's say your bill is $5.40, they never round it down. That's right. That's right. We'll give the $0.40. It's always you give the $0.60. But, yeah, I mean, I think either way, that's just, it is, it's really cheap participation. Right. And so what we're struggling with right now, in my mind, is that we've all bought in, or many of us, a sufficient number of us, I'll say it like that, a sufficient number of us have bought into the idea that social media is a vehicle for social change. I would be the first one to say that I think social media is changing society. I do not think it's a vehicle for social change in the way that many people intend to use it. And we've talked about different things on this show and on usefultoGod. Like, let's say the whole Let's Ban Target scandal. Yes, right. As far as I know, Target's still in business. Yeah, they are. Yeah. And I don't see a lot of people still talking about Target ban. The outrage is over. We've moved on to other interests. This is nothing that we care about anymore. And honestly, we're all going back to shop at Target. That's true. And Target didn't, well, they just got mad. They just said, no, we'll just, let's stick it to them. Right. And it is, you know, we had the Balenciaga scandal last year. If you remember, if you even remember that one. Right. I mean, we have this cycle of scandal after scandal after scandal after scandal. But guess what? It's like, it's, they weather the outrage and they move on with life. I think I just saw, you know, a news story where Kid Rock said, hey, it's enough with the whole Bud Light ban. It's like, okay. I didn't even know that was still going on. Yeah, I didn't either. Right. Like it has its own little rage cycle. And once it's done, it's done. And so, you know, if we look at social media, if we look at some of this cancellation kind of stuff, those sort of things to me are only scary because the younger generation is beginning to think that this is the way life happens. Corporations tend to bend to it, accommodate it for whatever reason. And political entities are starting to adopt some of these ideologies and sort of skew in this direction. And so I think it's worrisome that, you know, it's almost like cognitive parasites. Yeah. And it's these infections that sort of run viral, not in a viral video sort of sense, but an actual viral infection that is spreading across different people. And so I think that's the more worrisome part. But to me, if you speakers getting, you know, shouted down in college, it's like, well, to some degree, that's just what college kids do when there's no adults in the room. Well, we'll be right back on Thinking Christian. I'm Richard Beattie. We'll see if we can find some adults to get back in the room. Let me ask you a serious question. If something triggered a major market drop in the coming months, would your retirement be ready or exposed? With inflation, market volatility, and ongoing global uncertainty, more families are taking a closer look at whether their retirement plan is truly built to hold up. And many are finding that adding a layer of protection makes a lot of sense. Sanctuary Metals is a Christian-owned company that helps families strengthen their retirement savings with physical gold and silver through a gold IRA. During uncertain times, many people look to precious metals as a way to add stability when other assets may be under pressure. If you'd like to explore whether a gold IRA is a good fit for your situation, Sanctuary Metals makes it easy to get started. Text GUIDE to 94878 to receive your free Retirement Defense Guide or call 888-958-6579 to speak with one of their knowledgeable team members. Again, text GUIDE to 94878 or call 888-958-6579. You know, I was driving home from my hometown during the holiday weekend. My family was sleeping in the car. I had the radio turned off, so my mind was thinking. My name is Richard Beattie. I get paid to think. I was watching as cars careened around me at 90 miles per hour or in some cases more. They were going in and out of the express lane, or as I call it, the Autobahn. At first, I was multiplying how much revenue the state would make in video fines. And then I decided to change my attention to bumper stickers. Years ago, I wrote a column on bumper stickers and what they say about the person driving the car. I began to count the cars that were passing me on my left and right. The first 62 cars had no bumper stickers at all. Then a ragged RAV4 had two stickers. The first was like a Colorado license plate with the word native. The other looked like an insurance logo. So I made a mental note and resumed counting. In the end, I tallied over 1,200 cars and counted seven bumper stickers. This may alarm our friends at Sticker Mule, but maybe not. I wondered how many drivers a day listen to the radio, music, podcasts, or an audiobook. Years ago, there was a rash of radios being stolen from New York City cars. There was also a number of bumper stickers that read, no radio in car. That alarmed many broadcasters. I admit I am not a buyer of bumper stickers. I know people who have had their cars damaged and vandalized because they wore their political leanings on their bumpers. What does a decrease in bumper stickers tell us about our culture? I think it's like the polls. People are fearful of being canceled if they show their affiliations to a team, a party, a religion, or a nationality. We have become macro and mega phobiacs in a world where stigmas of common decency have become extinct. And surveys and polls have run amok of dishonest and fearful numbers that are inaccurate snapshots of who really wins. And until we refuse being intimidated, the erosion of hope, peace, love, and joy will continue to be sandblasted from our hearts, minds, and car bumpers. I'm Richard Beattie. Email your thoughts, paidtothink at gmail.com. That's paidtothink at gmail.com. I saw two stories about college administrators and professors who are warning about this. They're alarmed about this because, and these are college professors who are on polar opposites of the political spectrum, who still love each other and they still can have discourse and they don't agree with each other, but that's not the point. No, I mean, I remember being a dean and I'm glad that I left higher ed in a lot of ways because I'm not sure I'd get by with some of the stuff I did at that point.

those times, but I remember meeting with a student group and they were frustrated with some of the things that were going on at the college. And so I would just happen to be visiting their student group that night. They had invited me to talk. I was a new dean, and so they wanted to hear what I had to say. And they were talking about a social media campaign that would run against the policies of the school. And so the first thing I said when I got up, I said, you know, I'm here. I'm I'm willing to talk. I'm really willing to process some of these things with you until you post on social media. As soon as you post on social media, you will find me, even if I agree with you, you will find me to be your biggest enemy because I do not want you to begin thinking that social media is the way you get things done. That's just not the way life works. We could probably do a whole show on that because what do college administrators have to or deans, what do they have to face today that they didn't have to face all those years ago? I also, I will also say that, you know, there were some good boycotts back in the 60s that really meant something when you think about the civil rights movement and you think about Martin Luther King, Jonathan Eig, who I've interviewed him, but he just wrote a great book called King about Martin Luther King. And there were so many examples of how Martin Luther King and the whole peaceful resistance, those are different types of sit-ins. You know, they weren't trying to get out of class. I mean, and a lot of, a lot of those people were beaten for it. They were, and what was happening in the deep South and I, I don't want to just single out the deep South. It's happened all over the country, what was going on. Now it was to a different level of what was happening in the South, you know, the Jim Crow laws. Those were things that there is a difference. And I guess that's what I'm pointing out right now. There was a difference between that time and boycotting and all of those things that we say, you know, what, what did they really get us? They really did get some, some social change and some fairness changes for, for people. You know, who, who would have thought that we would be at a place where people had to ask for just the common decency of eating in the same places? So I want to differentiate that time. And I think sometimes the civil rights movement and that philosophy gets hijacked to something that it's, that it isn't now. And I think it's just piggybacking on, on that, which really meant something. Yeah. I mean, Malcolm Gladwell talks about this in a New Yorker article called Small Change. The revolution will not be tweeted, I think is the full title. And one of the things he talks about is the sort of commitment and engagement you actually get on social media and the difference. And I think he contrasts it to a smaller sort of protest that happened in the deep South. And he, he contrasts it, you know, he says the difference is, it's the difference between weak ties and strong ties, right? Facebook has done a fantastic job of changing what we mean when we say the word friends. You know, how many friends do you have on Facebook? How many connections do you have on LinkedIn? How many followers do you have on Instagram or Twitter? Or X, sorry. But, you know, here's the thing. I mean, those are, those are big words. We often talk about being followers of Christ, right? To be a connection, right? And to have a connection is more than just, hey, I saw you were a buddy of a buddy. And so I looked at your LinkedIn profile and now we're connected. Right. And being friends is a much deeper thing than just having a familiarity with one another's Facebook profiles. And yet they've taken those terms and they've made them into something that they're probably not. And so what he talks about in those weak ties really reinforced in a lot of what we're seeing. And so what I would say is, I agree with you. I think that the civil rights movement of the past probably did ride on stronger ties, right? There were, there was real skin in the game there. Right. Whereas now, like, you, you make a really sharp Twitter post. Um, I'll give you a great example. There's a guy that I listen to a different podcast called Theology in the Raw, Preston Sprinkle. I enjoy his stuff. Always an interesting conversation. He just did a podcast with a guy who got 500,000 hits on Twitter for calling Preston Sprinkle a heretic. Oh, really? Wow. And it's like, that's the only substance he really posted from what I could tell from the podcast. Um, got 500,000 hits and a guest spot on Preston's podcast. If that isn't an encouragement to continue doing what he's doing, I don't know what is. And so what we, what we find is we're, we're really rewarding bad behavior more than we are curtailing it. Because these aren't deep engagements. I mean, with, with Preston's views in that instance, right? And most of the stuff you see on social media is not deep engagement with anybody's views, right? It's a relatively informed opinion about X, Y, or Z. But it's not a deep engagement. And that's kind of where it goes. People tend to look for the folks that agree with them, that say what they want to hear. I think we're entering a time very much when we have itching ears, and we're seeking out the teachers who are going to scratch those itches. Let me ask you a serious question. If something triggered a major market drop in the coming months, would your retirement be ready or exposed? With inflation, market volatility, and ongoing global uncertainty, more families are taking a closer look at whether their retirement plan is truly built to hold up. And many are finding that adding a layer of protection makes a lot of sense. Sanctuary Metals is a Christian-owned company that helps families strengthen their retirement savings with physical gold and silver through a gold IRA. During uncertain times, many people look to precious metals as a way to add stability when other assets may be under pressure. If you'd like to explore whether a gold IRA is a good fit for your situation, Sanctuary Metals makes it easy to get started. Text GUIDE to 94878 to receive your free retirement defense guide or call 888-958-6579 to speak with one of their knowledgeable team members. Again, text GUIDE to 94878 or call 888-958-6579. So how do we think, Christian, and how do we resist as Christians this brave new world that we live in? Well, number one, I always like to make the distinction when we talk about freedom of speech, which is kind of where we started this whole thing off. When we talk about freedom of speech, what we're really talking about is speaking free of consequences. So what the U.S. government gives us is the freedom to speak without consequences. In other words, the government is not going to punish us for speaking our mind. That's one aspect of this. Now, I tend to think that what we're seeing now is we're seeing the government begin to establish ideologies in the way that the founders sought to preclude the government from establishing religion. And so what we're going to increasingly see is government coercion related to speech. And I think what we'll see is that certain speech is going to be lumped into things like hate speech or what have you. I think that will happen, right? But I think the important part is, and I have no problem with people sort of pushing back on the government and trying to retain free speech. I think that's an appropriate thing to do within our political system. But I think it's a really important distinction is that what the government offers us is freedom from consequences. What Christ offers us is freedom from sin. What Christ offers us is a freedom to obey. And so for Christians, I'm not telling you just to keep talking. I think there is a wisdom in discerning when to talk and when to be quiet. But what I would say is that there is no sense in which Christians will ever be forced into silence. We always have the freedom to obey. And so we've just got to exercise courage and faith and go out there and speak the truth. What I would encourage Christians to do is not to simply react or respond to everything that they're reading and looking at. Number one, it's unnecessary. And number two, many times we are not well enough informed about a topic to actually speak well on it. What we're contributing to is nonsense, the complete and utter noise that goes on out there where people just share their opinions that are not particularly informed by anything other than how they feel about a particular matter. And so I think we as Christians need to be articulate. We need to be well informed. We need to be reading the scriptures well, but also integrating the scriptures and understanding how the scriptures work with secular knowledges and really presenting that well and faithfully and intelligently. But I would really encourage people just not to get on the defensive. When I see people get on the defensive,

I see people who believe that they're vulnerable. Christians aren't vulnerable. I think those points, we need to be informed, be articulate, pick our battles, and avoid being defensive. There's nothing that is ever going to be taken away from us. Everything we have is secured in Christ. And so we can just be who we are. It's going to entail consequences. That's the point of much of scripture, is that being Christian is going to have negative consequences. For us, we just have to continue to be faithful and prepare ourselves for those consequences. You know, I love Matthew 10, serpents and doves, right? When Christ sends his disciples out, what is he doing? He's sending them out as sheep amongst wolves. He tells them, don't take anything with you, right? Don't take extras. Don't get paid for your services. Simply depend on people who receive the message to care for you. The message is your provision. It's what's going to cultivate in the hearts of people a desire to see you continue your work. And I think part of what he's doing there is he's preparing them for a time when those who don't accept the message will betray them. They will send them before the governors and the Gentiles, and this is all in Matthew 10, that whole passage. And he encourages them to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. And the way I would take that is, be wise as serpents, don't depend on those who are ultimately going to betray you, but learn to navigate and negotiate the world so that you can avoid such dependence and be innocent as doves. Understand the evil that's there, but you have no participation with it. And I think the training and dependence that the disciples are getting by going out without provision is ultimately intended to help them as they stand before the governors and the rulers and the Gentiles. Because Jesus says, don't worry about what you're going to say when you're in that moment. The Holy Spirit will speak through you. He will give you the words. That requires tremendous dependence. And I think that if we don't learn that, we are going to be in trouble when all of the support structures that are wonderful in America, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, all of the different freedoms we have are wonderful, but they also lull us into this false sense of security that we don't need to be trained and we don't need to be prepared. And so I think we have to learn that sort of dependence. We have to develop that sort of wise as serpents, innocent as doves approach. It's going to come up in our conversations again and again because it is in front of us. And I think it's good to deal with it honestly, also coming from a humble approach. There's a lot of healing in this world right now that needs healing. And having just one more voice arguing is not going to get it, you know. And so I think as Christians, that's probably the best way to look at almost any issue. Sometimes that means not speaking and having discernment when it is time to speak and when it is time to keep silent. We want to let people know where they can get in touch. Yeah, please follow us on whatever platform you have on your podcast on. But you can find out more information about us and our ministry at usefultogod.com. Check out some of our courses. Check out some of our free downloads. We've got a piece that's just gone over 5,000 downloads on the site right now, The Uncomplicated Gospel. And so it's a great resource. But we've got a mix of free stuff and paid stuff. And you can find it all at usefultogod.com. I want to take just a second to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the Thinking Christian Podcast. If you go to lifeaudio.com, you will find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more. There's no better way to start your day than spending time in God's Word and in prayer. Don't know where to start? We have a free daily prayer podcast created to help you do just that. The Your Daily Prayer podcast delivers a thoughtful devotional and timely prayer to you seven days a week. Gain inspiration, faith, and encouragement with daily messages in 10 minutes or less. To start listening now, search Your Daily Prayer on your favorite podcast app or visit lifeaudio.com.