USA TODAY International Edition
I’ve played a role in toxic public debate
My goal is to recognize the humanity of everyone
I recently took a hiatus from social media to reflect on what role I might be playing in our increasingly toxic public square. I was not proud of what I found.
I reflected not just on my behavior on social media, but also in my public expressions, both on TV and in my columns. I cringed at many of the things I had written and said. Many I would not say or write today, sometimes because my view has changed and sometimes just because I was too much of a crusader, too judgmental and condemning.
When I took to Twitter on Monday to apologize for my lack of grace in the public square, many expressed concern that I’d stop speaking with moral clarity on important issues. This is not my goal. I will continue to stand on the side of equality and justice, but also mercy and grace. My goal is to speak in a way that remembers the humanity of everyone involved.
That includes the Covington teenagers, who I believe behaved disrespectfully, but who don’t deserve to have their entire lives defined by one day. It includes Trump supporters whom I, in an attempt to raise awareness of the issue of white privilege, not too long ago regrettably characterized as uniformly racist for voting for him. Not exactly a conversation starter.
It also applies to Al Franken, whom I called on to resign from the U.S. Senate but now believe he should have been given an investigation. It includes Planned Parenthood, which I have excoriated in years past in ways I would never do today. It includes those on the left who were the targets of my 2015 book on free speech, in which I was too dismissive of real concerns by traumatized people and groups who feel marginalized and ignored.
As I surveyed my work, the thing that struck me is how much I have changed. I’m not the same person I was a year ago, let alone 25 years ago. Yet our media routinely dig up information from decades ago and demand judgment be delivered with no regard to whether the person has evolved. We need to be more interested in who people are today, not who they were decades ago. Don’t we want people to change and grow? Yet even if they have, demands for heads to roll abound when their ancient sins are unearthed.
This is not an argument against accountability. It’s an argument for us to think about whether the punishment fits the crime. Al Franken shouldn’t get the same punishment Les Moonves did because they didn’t do the same things. As a baseline rule, a person losing his job should not be the default punishment for noncriminal behavior or behavior where there hasn’t been an impartial investigation.
We need to have humility and realize that there but for the grace of God go I. We also need to recognize what we are doing: It’s called scapegoating. In the Bible, a scapegoat was an animal burdened with the sins of others through a ritual, then driven away. This is in effect what our society does when we designate certain people to bear our collective sins. Once it’s discovered that a person behaved in a racist, homophobic or misogynist way, she is banished from society, creating a sense that somehow there has been atoning because someone was punished.
I know there is a double standard when it comes to the benefit of the doubt in our culture. People of color, especially young black men, rarely receive the benefit of the doubt or context for their failings and can receive a literal death sentence as a result. I just don’t believe that refusing to provide white people the benefit of the doubt will right that wrong. The way to right it is to have one standard for all people and to actively work to reform a system that is fundamentally discriminatory.
We also need to create a culture of repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation that is based on those who have made mistakes taking responsibility for those errors — however grievous — and working toward righting the wrong in which they participated. This would be a radical shift, but one I am determined to make. I hope you will join me.