Illustration: In a book I recently reread, the author penned this zinger:

In courtrooms, classrooms, operating rooms, board rooms, churches, and even airplanes, Americans no longer talk to each other, they entertain each other. They do not exchange ideas; they exchange images. They do not argue with propositions; they argue with good looks, celebrities, and commercials (Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death, pp. 92-93). 

Postman’s right of course. We’re living amidst idiot culture wherein the instancy and pervasiveness of images flows incessantly from every social media portal imaginable and reasoned dialogue is largely overrun by ad hominem attacks, shallow talking points, and barbed labels aimed at humiliating the enemies of one’s position. Kindness and common courtesy have been replaced by shock jocks and over-the-top antics. One of the most obvious effects is a coarsening of the culture and loss of respect and respectfulness. But there is another way. 

Encouragement and Application:  In the Christian worldview, however, we see the alternative: 

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person (Colossians 4:5-6, ESV). 

We cannot fully escape the endless rivers of images and videos assaulting our senses. But we can deal with one another respectfully and model what it means to be a people characterized by quality of speech and character rather than crudity and coarseness, but it will not happen from the top down but from the bottom up, with each of us in our daily obedience doing the small but right things towards each other and towards God.