What's with all the public outbursts?

The LA Times has an interesting article titled, "What's with all the public outbursts?" The article examines, from a sociological point of view, the deepening crisis in civic discourse and public language. Of late, Kanye West, Rep. Joe Wilson, and Serena Williams have all made public spectacles of themselves with harsh language and angry outbursts at the most inappropriate times. Normally I ignore news like this. Who needs to read about immature people, yelling and swearing? But the LA Times' article raised a good question. In thinking about it, it seems these outbursts are getting more fiercely expletive-laden, more public, and are occurring at increasingly inappropriate venues: the polite tennis courts, the staid halls of Congress, the proud spotlight of an awards stage. So...what does the descent of public discourse have to do with prophecy?

Paul said to Timothy in his second letter, that “Difficult Times Will Come.” Paul wrote, "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power;" (2Tim 3:1-5)

The Spirit leads me to the word 'brutal.' In US culture we think of brutality as child beating or puppy kicking. In other words, a physically violent action. But the Greek word 'brutal' in the verse is taken from is anemeros, meaning fierce, or "not tame," "savage, "without any sympathy for others, i.e., brutal, bestial, uncivilized.

Recent news reported that "Saturday Night Live" newbie Jenny Slate marked her Saturday night debut by dropping the f-bomb on air, uttering the four-letter word during a sketch she shared with veteran Kristen Wiig. Slate, a New York comedian, was performing in "Biker Chicks Chat," playing a foulmouthed motorcycle-driving woman clad in leather, when she dropped the curse word, which slipped by censors and was heard by East Coast viewers of the show." Using the f-word is uncivilized. Using it on live television is unconscionable.

Incredibly, there have been articles about the most taboo word in the English language, and its increasing use illustrating that it is "Losing its bite."

"But is the C word losing its bite? It seems that way to me. A few weeks ago, it appeared for the first time on the front page of The Guardian, the 188-year-old British daily. The paper was reporting on the latest misdeed of Jeremy Clarkson, host of the BBC show Top Gear, who called Prime Minister Gordon Brown one, although the comment wasn't broadcast. The Guardian deemed the story newsworthy because of Clarkson's popularity, and because he'd earlier gotten into trouble for calling Brown "a one-eyed Scottish idiot." Guardian readers, it seems, are hard to shock. The paper got only around 17 complaints from readers..."

When our society's ears become accustomed to the most brutal language imaginable, when its use sparks little to no controversy, when articles appear that remark on the number of outbursts from people whom we used to look up to ... then it can be said that the times are perilous indeed. No, these are not physical acts of violence and our bodies are not in peril for hearing this language. But our souls are.

"To live a long, healthy and serene life we need the crucial help of a network of caring people – we need social support. In order to gain and keep social support we need social skills. Choosing Civility re-discovers and expounds the essential skills that allow us to live well among others." says civility expert P.M. Forni, author of Choosing Civility: The Twenty-Five Rules of Considerate Conduct. We are losing the skills that help us to live well among others; and when we live for ourselves, it is every man for himself. Perilous times, indeed.

Paul wrote in Romans 14:19, "So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another." Christians, our language is a reflection of God in us. Remember to use language that edifies, builds up, and encourages. Amid the cesspool of current discourse, it will be noticed all the more as a sweet-smelling rose in these perilous and brutal times.