TIME TO COOL DOWN
Yes, we're into autumn now – the temperature is coming down. With all the political violence recently – murders and attempted murders – it's also Time to Cool Down politically: take several deep breaths, relax, and let those boiling brain cells cool. What kickstarted this topic in my thinking was a U.S. DOJ report that began: "Militant, nationalistic, white supremacist violent extremism has increased in the United States. In fact, the number of far-right attacks continues to outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism. Since 1990, far-right extremists have committed far more ideologically motivated homicides than far-left or radical Islamist extremists...."
This didn't sound quite right, and this U.S. DOJ report had been taken down in January 2025, but other sources recovered a copy (click the above photo). Where did this seemingly official-sounding government report get its statistics from and what were the specific events it referred to? These statistics didn't seem to match up with the descriptions of many violent incidents that I have been reading over the years. As I studied the report, I found lots of footnotes to further articles by the report's authors, but no descriptions of specific categories of violence.
For example, under previous administrations, freedom of speech when protesting peacefully against abortion has been criminalized under the FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) Act, so that people who are simply on public sidewalks holding posters stating "Abortion takes a human life," "Abortion is not healthcare," (both obviously and objectively true) and praying silently on the street or sidewalk, or not even saying a word, just recording these peaceful protests on a smartphone, have been arrested and sentenced to prison time.
Parents speaking up at school board meetings about their children being taught gay and transgender ideology have been arrested as "domestic terrorists" and given heavy prison sentences. Sometimes each person arrested at pro-life demonstrations and given a different-length sentence was counted as a unique act of terrorism or domestic violent extremism. This could easily skew the count of "far-right attacks" mentioned in the beginning of my article. Why?
For many on the Left, especially in universities, "speech is violence" when they disagree with opposing views. When some Christian or conservative students were bold enough to speak or display literature in public opposing Antifa or LGBTQ+ issues, their free speech was accused of commiting acts of violence and they were attacked by a literally violent staff member... with a machete! Even "misgendering people can be considered an 'act of violence.'”
Legally, "hate speech" is defined as "credible threats of physical harm to people based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability or medical condition." Rude, profane, cursing or other mean-spirited speech by either Left or Right is technically and legally not "hate speech." But the expression "hate speech" is often misused to describe free speech that others strongly disagree with. For example...
The 2024 book Hate Speech and Political Violence: Far-Right Rhetoric from the Tea Party to the Insurrection repeatedly uses the words "weaponized communication" when referring to "angry and often violent rhetoric" of politically conservative people (implying that words are violence), even though their words did not contain "credible threats of physical harm to people" – merely loud, angry, or crude speech, or perhaps just ordinary speech that the Left disagrees with. Notice how "angry and often violent rhetoric" and the book's title itself blurs the distinction between the legal definition of "hate speech" and simply speech the Left disagrees with.
Another example: the article "Hate speech is political violence" by Kaia Monaco, Managing Editor of UNews at Saint Louis University, also blurs the line between the legal definition of "hate speech" and merely disagreed-with free speech. She says that some people will excuse their hateful speech as "my personal opinion." Then she writes – "An opinion should not argue that some people are more deserving of rights – including the right to live – than others. A different viewpoint should not assert that one group of people has more cognitive ability than another. A conflicting belief should not dehumanize those who disagree. These are not opinions, viewpoints or different beliefs, this is hate speech." So she says calling a person stupid is "hate speech."
We all need to be very careful about using such expressions as "hate speech," calling ICE "the Gestapo," or the President's supporters "Nazis" and him "Hitler" ...and for him to reply: "I hate them!" – especially in view of recent politically-motivated killings of businesspeople, politicians, and public speakers on both sides of the aisle. Using such terms only turns up the heat, enflaming more mentally unstable young men to take violent actions. Accusing other persons of "hate speech" if they disagree with us or are simply rude and crude can inflame the conversation further – it's Time to Cool Down!
And late night comedians need to be warned by their networks and their own script writers that making knowingly false statements over the airwaves is a violation of FCC rules for holding a broadcast license. "Freedom of speech" does not mean you are free to lie deliberately over the air.
Recently I sent the following email to a certain conservative writer, referring to Ephesians 4:29; Colossians 3:8 and 4:6 – "As a fellow Orthodox Christian..., I urge you to 'not let any filthy communication come out of your mouth.' Instead, 'Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.' As a professional wordsmith, you can certainly find better, more constructive and gracious words than using curse words and profanity. Remember, you've identified yourself as an Orthodox Christian. Is profanity and cursing the way you want people to think of our faith?"
We, especially as Christians, in these troubled times, should avoid not only legally-defined "hate speech" but also any speech that is unkind, demeaning, profane, or full of cursing!
You can read the rest of our newsletter at https://agape-restoration-society.org/ARC-News/a-n_2025-09-27.htm, and share it! Also, create your own website for less than $2 per month!
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