Somewhere along the line we lost the art of dialogue, of rationality, of wisdom and wit, and of speech as a tool for the common good rather than the destruction of our foes. People, even those who we’d normally expect to be better than that, at least in public, have opened the sewers within and decided that the contents are now for public consumption whether we like it or not and there doesn’t seem to be any mother with a bar of soap in hand to take care of it.

“Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks…” (Luke 6:45) and those hearts are being exposed live, every day, on national television. The darkness within has now come out, unashamed, unfiltered, and as obvious as a punch in the nose. Not even the pretense of dignity, nor even the attempt. Just a stream of broken consciousness on display for all to see, a revelation of the deep soulish emptiness disgorged for the public.

This will not be fought with the same fire. It can only be fought with a resolute few deciding to recapture the comeliness of speech and the control of the tongue. The third chapter of James needs to be rediscovered, reinforced, and renewed among the faithful as the precursor of the change we expect in the world. The game only wins if we decide to play it. Opt out and it crumbles, after a few desperate flailing swings at us, under the weight of its crudeness. No need so much for a bar of soap but rather for salt and light and grace and a holy stubborn refusal to ape our superiors who’ve chosen the dark side of the discourse.

In time a simple question will reveal the faithful from the frauds, the good from the bad and the ugly, the moral adults from the children. Do we have to flush after we speak or not?