Mike "Pops" Klumpp

When I was a kid we would say “sticks and stones may break your bones but words will never hurt you”. I still believe in the issue of name calling, that if I want to choose not to be a victim, I must determine how I respond to being labelled. However, in recent years a second potential victim has emerged in the issue of name calling or labelling.

Various groups have resorted to using labels to create discord. For example, if someone notes a difference in a group outside their own and I want to shame them or create discord with regards to their group, I call them “racist.” In the poll of popular opinion, most people will respond either positively or negatively without ever noting whether the term actually applies.

Often times, while the labelling might reflect a bias or discrimination, the label “racist” does not apply. It merely stirs emotion and is usually intended to provoke a negative ethos to the group being called “racist”. The new victim in this type of shade and misinformation is the audience. The audience finds itself subject to an emotional whirlwind whether they agree or disagree with the label and the winds of opinion have been stirred into a frenzy. People respond to the label not to the facts. In fact, the facts are often lost in the emotion of the labelling.

This type of misinformation creates what is often called a “straw man fallacy”. This is a distortion intended to undermine the facts and move the audience in a predisposed direction creating enmity for the group labelled and moving popular sentiment against them.

If we want to avoid being stirred and manipulated by media, we need to disarm the language used to create discord and strive to see the facts. When the facts are not clearly available, we should not engage in taking sides or being led into a fight. We need to check our emotions and ground ourselves in what we know for certain, which is usually the world at arm’s reach and no more.

We need to strive to be peacemakers. We need to make an effort to keep the peace. This begins with personal peace and circles out from self.

Next time you are stirred to vitriol by the opinions of a story in the media or someone proclaiming a cause, take a moment, focus on the immediate, ask the question “Does it matter?” or “Do I know this firsthand to be true?” Use that moment to collect your emotions and hold your response.

Don’t be a victim of someone’s words. Choose peace.

“Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city.” Proverbs 16:32