My high school government teacher told us that the definition of a Conservative was someone who wanted to go back to the old ways of doing things, including slavery. He emphasized that – conservatives like slavery. I thought it was odd even then that, in conservative Texas, no one in class seemed to really think that was an odd definition. Or maybe we were just all afraid of the grade so kept our mouths shut. Little did I know that this was just the way things were going to be from now on.
But did anyone really expect what is happening now? I mean, sure, there has always been an effort
by people to shut down discussion by calling other people names. I’m talking about the people who take any
criticism of Obama as “racism,” or those who talk about a “war on women” when
we want to end the murder of babies.
These people have always been around, and they are so blinded by their
own rhetoric that it’s nearly impossible to have a conversation with them.
But they’ve always been the kooks, the fringe, the blind
followers. These are the people who make
the news out of their incredible silliness, not because they have a point. But when people near me – friends, neighbors,
coworkers, etc. – start repeating the same nonsense, it starts to concern me. When I see people at work who really thought
that voting against Obama meant that Big Bird would go off the air, I start to
really wonder about where we’re going as a people.
When video of Douglas Wilson’s encounter at Indiana
University emerged a few years ago, it should have been funny. It should have been so ridiculous that it was
funny. Wilson himself was certainly
witty enough to be funny. But there was
a tone to that video, a foreboding of darker days, days where free speech was
no longer respected or encouraged, but where the accepted narrative of the day
was forced upon us.
When the Supreme Court decision came down about same-sex
“marriage,” I noted with some consternation a Libertarian friend of mine on
Facebook laude the court’s decision.
Well, a lot of people were doing that, of course, but I expected my
Libertarian friends, even if they did not speak for the proper understanding of
marriage, to at least lament an activist Supreme Court that was
unconstitutionally making laws. And with
any other topic, that would have happened.
But not this time. I suppose
statism threatens to affect all of us when the accepted narrative of the day is
at stake.
And that’s exactly what’s going on, isn’t it? We are seeking to codify into law the
prevailing morality that this generation made up out of thin air and is declaring
anyone who disagrees as a racist, bigot, homophobe.
When I first watched the second trailer to The Free Speech
Apocalypse (then entitled Stonewall), I was seriously excited. I was excited because it was clear that this
film was not going to touch on the current issue and leave it there, but to dig
into the deeper cultural and governmental issues that are feeding the current
issue, and why things are turning in this particular direction.
As Wilson says in part of the movie, when moral relativism
falls off the cliff toward the rocks of nihilism and hopelessness, there’s a
moment of perceived freedom. And it is
perhaps in that freefall that we find ourselves.
But the rocks are coming.
The film
Most of the film is framed by that very Indiana University
visit, but further expounded by interviews with Wilson and others. We are reminded of multiple other events that
have one thing in common – enemies of the world are told to change their minds,
to apologize, or to get out of the way.
To shut up. The opposition is not
logic-driven. Their tactics are
interesting in that they use victimhood as a weapon.
I found this part of the film intriguing. The use of the perception of victimhood as a
bludgeon. At Indiana, the protesters
painted bruises on themselves before trying to shout down Doug Wilson. Not engage him in debate. Not countering him with logic. Shout at him until he left.
And they were doing this while claiming to be the victims of
the encounter. Could you imagine if the
sides had been switched on this one? If
Christians had interrupted someone who was speaking on homosexuality, then the
Christians claims to have been the ones hurt?
And they weren’t even complaining about real stuff. One student came forward with a quote from
one of Wilson’s writings to prove Wilson is racist. Wilson rightly challenged that student over
whether he (or the people who gave him the quote) actually read the book he was
quoting.
But it’s about the agenda.
Get a quote that sounds bad. Call
a name. Make that the argument, not the
ideas. Ad hominem, ad hominem, ad hominem. Sure it’s a logical fallacy, but we’re more worried
about emotions right now, so it’s cool.
(And can I just say that I’ve seen even Christians claim
racism over that same quote without reading the book? We should definitely have better approaches
to people who disagree with us than the tactics of illogical atheist
protesters.)
The picture that is painted is one we should pay attention
to. It is of a group of people who have
no interest in talking the issue out.
They have no interest in agreeing to disagree. They have no interest in allowing the
opposition to have their say. They are a
people blinded by their own rebellion, and they do not want to be reminded of
the truth. They are a people in
desperate need of the Gospel.
The movie has a long view of what has happened. It not only connects the cultural dots to
show the tactics and methods, but also traces the pedigree of that thought in a
way that is very helpful and informative.
And in a way that should make us concerned about this culture war, even
if we were not before.
Then is there
despair?
Wisely, the movie ends with Wilson explaining something
vitally important – that Jesus is Lord over all of this. He gives a wonderful analogy of a man trapped
behind a dune at Normandy, and he happens to get a copy of the invasion plans. His reaction should be one of hope – that
whether or not he is behind that dune, his side will prevail, and he should
continue fighting the good fight.
At the end of the day, isn’t that the comfort of
Calvinism? The knowledge that no matter
how well I conducted myself, how many battles won or lost, the wrong or the
right thing said, that Jesus is Lord, and He will have His way.
It is an odd ending, but an important one. There are a couple of hard turns made by this
movie, and they might have been ironed out a bit, and this was one of
them. It feels like an afterthought, but
I doubt it was. And no matter what the
transition was like, it is something that should be said.
In all of this, Jesus is King.
In all of this, His will prevails.
Conclusion
Director Darren Doane has contributed something important
and special here. It is something that I
hope opens some eyes. It is something
that I hope will cause people to have a wider view of what is going on and not
just focus on this issue today and nothing else.
But I hope it will cause people to trust Jesus more, to lean
on Him more, and to realize that He is the hope of the nations, and nothing
else.
The kids at Indiana won’t save us. They won’t even be able to save themselves as
they fall to the rocks below. But they
are not outside of the reach of Christ. And
neither are we. He will remember His
people, and He will not forsake us.
