Another Perspective . . .
I stand second to no one in my admiration for Hugh Hewitt. When he was profiled in the New Yorker recently, I concluded my review of the piece with the following observation:
Hugh's contributions as radio talk show host and "the godfather of the blogosphere" are enormous. But even more than that, he has done more than anyone in media/public life today to dispel the unfair left-wing stereotype of committed Christians as unintelligent, unsophisticated and dour. Hugh's consistent good humor and sense of fun, coupled with the courtesy he demonstrates even toward those with whom he disagrees, provide a daily, living testament to the power of religious faith in modern life.
Today, in this post, Hugh calls on the center-right community to resist the temptation to denounce Kanye West and, presumably, all those who are disgracing themselves by becoming "tragedy pimps" and race-mongers of the worst sort. To that end, Hugh reminds us of the epigram on Alex Haley's gravestone: "Find the good and praise it."
His words are a call to reflection -- and a much-needed reminder to those of us who (like me, I fear) have allowed our distaste at certain behavior to goad us into uncharitable or intemperate words. He's right that constructive words and a positive approach have infinitely more merit than their opposites.
Yet it seems to me that the hatefilled rhetoric directed toward the President demands some response. From the calls I have taken at KABC on the air (and those I couldn't or chose not to take), it's clear that, along with legitimate criticism, there are those who are trying deliberately to confuse and mislead people about the quality of and motivation behind the federal government's relief efforts -- or who lack even a fundamental understanding of the facts at issue.
And I fear that if the aspersions are not rebutted, then those who do or might believe them will interpret our restraint as either (1) an implicit admission of guilt (i.e., "they know what's being said is true") or (2) a symptom of indifference (i.e., "don't they care enough about being thought to be racist even to bother responding to the charge?").
Certainly, there are the wing nuts that one can never convince. But there are also those on the sidelines -- perhaps ill-informed -- who are hearing serious charges flung about irresponsibly. If there's a trial of sorts going on in the court of public opinion, we certainly don't want to let one side go forward without even making our case, do we?
That being said, I take Hugh's admonition seriously -- and intend to search my conscience with a firm resolve to do better.
Hugh's contributions as radio talk show host and "the godfather of the blogosphere" are enormous. But even more than that, he has done more than anyone in media/public life today to dispel the unfair left-wing stereotype of committed Christians as unintelligent, unsophisticated and dour. Hugh's consistent good humor and sense of fun, coupled with the courtesy he demonstrates even toward those with whom he disagrees, provide a daily, living testament to the power of religious faith in modern life.
Today, in this post, Hugh calls on the center-right community to resist the temptation to denounce Kanye West and, presumably, all those who are disgracing themselves by becoming "tragedy pimps" and race-mongers of the worst sort. To that end, Hugh reminds us of the epigram on Alex Haley's gravestone: "Find the good and praise it."
His words are a call to reflection -- and a much-needed reminder to those of us who (like me, I fear) have allowed our distaste at certain behavior to goad us into uncharitable or intemperate words. He's right that constructive words and a positive approach have infinitely more merit than their opposites.
Yet it seems to me that the hatefilled rhetoric directed toward the President demands some response. From the calls I have taken at KABC on the air (and those I couldn't or chose not to take), it's clear that, along with legitimate criticism, there are those who are trying deliberately to confuse and mislead people about the quality of and motivation behind the federal government's relief efforts -- or who lack even a fundamental understanding of the facts at issue.
And I fear that if the aspersions are not rebutted, then those who do or might believe them will interpret our restraint as either (1) an implicit admission of guilt (i.e., "they know what's being said is true") or (2) a symptom of indifference (i.e., "don't they care enough about being thought to be racist even to bother responding to the charge?").
Certainly, there are the wing nuts that one can never convince. But there are also those on the sidelines -- perhaps ill-informed -- who are hearing serious charges flung about irresponsibly. If there's a trial of sorts going on in the court of public opinion, we certainly don't want to let one side go forward without even making our case, do we?
That being said, I take Hugh's admonition seriously -- and intend to search my conscience with a firm resolve to do better.
posted by LadybugUSA at 3:02 PM
1 Comments:
Dear Carol --
I agree with you about Hugh. Great guy, doing outstanding, pathbreaking work. However, his method is often TOO genial. Leftists need to have the ruler rapped upon their hands in a most swift and severe way. (Funny, it's a method some Christians once used, back in the day). The problem with Hewitt is that he's -- forgive me for saying so -- too Christian. (Re)read Book II ch. 2 of Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy on the unmanliness Christianity instills, such which leads to a polity's great peril, weakening its ability to defend itself.
And besides: it's interesting to note Christianity w/o Calvary is just liberalism/socialism. I believe it was actually Chesterton who said that.
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