{"id":63,"date":"2012-03-13T14:15:55","date_gmt":"2012-03-13T14:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/?p=63"},"modified":"2012-03-13T14:15:55","modified_gmt":"2012-03-13T14:15:55","slug":"trashy-public-discourse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2012\/03\/trashy-public-discourse.html","title":{"rendered":"Trashy Public Discourse"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I don&#8217;t know about you but I am so tired of the trashy, inelegant public discourse. It&#8217;s not limited to Republicans or Democrats; liberals or conservatives &#8211; they just happen to be the noisiest right now. I was listening to the radio in my car yesterday as I had to go to Charlottesville. The words I heard would make a sailor blush &#8211; to use a very outdated phrase. It is for sure I would never have wanted my mother to hear such talk &#8211; not to mention my grandparents!<\/p>\n<p>Since when is it OK to call people names? Demean them personally? Demonize those that have a different point of view? Or make fun of people in a cruel way?<\/p>\n<p>Is it OK to have Rush Limbaugh call people ugly names? Is it OK for a US Senator to say those who are on the opposite side, &#8220;can go to hell&#8221;? Is it OK for Shawn Hannity to use a song with words like these: &#8220;We&#8217;ll put a boot up your ass, it&#8217;s the American way.&#8221; \u00a0Folks, that is NOT the American way! What happened to civility? What happened to &#8220;agree to disagree&#8221;?<\/p>\n<p>I enjoy politics. But this year we are way over the top in negativity. The one who can be most negative wins most often. How bazaar is that?<\/p>\n<p>Why have we just accepted this trash? Where is it coming \u00a0from? These people are intelligent. They are educated. They have a command of the English language and a large vocabulary. Why stoop to gutter talk? Surely there is a better way to express themselves.<\/p>\n<p>I know that there are times when a &#8220;certain&#8221; word just fits. I&#8217;ve been known to spout one or two myself. But it is not my habit and I fear that if we accept this from our public figures, hear it over the airwaves often enough then it becomes the accepted norm &#8211; that we will all begin to think it is OK. It isn&#8217;t. Have you noticed that when you spend time with a person who uses fowl language, you pick it up?<\/p>\n<p>As a nation are we just so frustrated at the ineptness of our politicians? Is it because our government is too big, too intrusive? Is it because we have forgotten our heritage and legacy as the &#8220;shining city on a hill&#8221;? Would George Washington stoop to this kind of language and verbal abuse? Abraham Lincoln? Ronald Reagan? No!<\/p>\n<p>I for one, do not want to accept this as inevitable. Let&#8217;s get back to civility, people. Let&#8217;s raise the public discourse by paying attention to the words we use words.<\/p>\n<p>The wisest man who ever lived, great King Solomon, told us this: &#8220;There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.&#8221; &#8220;He who guards his mouth and his tongue, guards his soul from troubles.&#8221; \u00a0Let&#8217;s think about the words we use and the effect they have on others.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I don&#8217;t know about you but I am so tired of the trashy, inelegant public discourse. It&#8217;s not limited to Republicans or Democrats; liberals or conservatives &#8211; they just happen to be the noisiest right now. I was listening to the radio in my car yesterday as I had to go to Charlottesville. The words&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":466,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Trashy Public Discourse - Safe Place with Ruth Graham<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2012\/03\/trashy-public-discourse.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trashy Public Discourse - Safe Place with Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I don&#8217;t know about you but I am so tired of the trashy, inelegant public discourse. It&#8217;s not limited to Republicans or Democrats; liberals or conservatives &#8211; they just happen to be the noisiest right now. I was listening to the radio in my car yesterday as I had to go to Charlottesville. The words&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2012\/03\/trashy-public-discourse.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Safe Place with Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-03-13T14:15:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Trashy Public Discourse - Safe Place with Ruth Graham","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2012\/03\/trashy-public-discourse.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Trashy Public Discourse - Safe Place with Ruth Graham","og_description":"I don&#8217;t know about you but I am so tired of the trashy, inelegant public discourse. 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No stranger to heartache, she seeks to provide a Biblical perspective to her journey of faith. She is warm and talks openly about her own need for a safe place as she journeyed through her husband\u2019s infidelities, her subsequent depression, her divorces, her teenage daughter\u2019s two unplanned pregnancies, another daughter\u2019s bulimia, her son\u2019s battle with drugs, grandson's special needs and returning to school at age 40. Although born into the \"famous\" Graham family Ruth did not feel she had a safe place to unburden the secrets of her life. She felt she had to project and image and wear a mask that she \"had it all together\". She had to meet others' expectations of her. It was not until a mid-life crisis did that she fully discover the unconditional love and grace of God. Her life's passion is to connect people to that same grace and love she found, no matter who they are or what sin. Ruth is an experienced conference speaker and Bible teacher. She has appeared on a variety of radio and television shows including: Good Morning, America, The Hour of Power, Focus on the Family, Moody Broadcasting, Fox &amp; Friends, CBN, Life Today and CNN. She has worked in publishing for over 14 years and is the founder of the Ruth Graham &amp; Friends Ministry. Ruth has three grown children and nine grandchildren. She lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. 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