Brother Michel Lankford
You may not realize it, but in your question, you have wisely identified the major problem with political correctness as a whole. There is NO ABSOLUTE Standard. The reality is that hate speech can be different depending on what ever a governing body or authority decides that it is, at any given point. Political correctness is a great way of operating a society if your goal is to create a society where only the popular elite have all the power over everything that someone thinks and says, but it’s a horrible system for anyone who truly loves personal freedom and liberty for all.
Believe What We Tell You to Believe, or Else You are Hateful
The problem is that anybody can be accused of hate speech, solely on the basis that somebody somewhere might be offended by what you said. It can largely be based on how someone else FEELS about what you said.
I will give you a classic example. Hard empirical science has PROVEN that there are ONLY TWO genders; male and female. It is hardwired in your body. It is determined by your chromosomes. If a person has an X and a Y chromosome, that person will be scientifically and biologically male. Conversely, if a person has two X chromosomes, then that person will be scientifically and biologically female. That has been scientifically proven fact since the mid-1800s. There is no legitimate factual way around it.
Here is the scary reality. If I bring up these scientific facts that have been proven for more then a hundred and fifty years, I would be considered guilty of hate speech in some circles, because these scientific realities are often considered hate speech by the LGBTQ community, or the politically correct powers that be. These people desperately WANT for gender to be determined by how the person FEELS about themselves on the inside, regardless of what the empirical scientific facts of the situation happened to be.
Hatred Being Disguised as Tolerance
Think about it. If you are a powerful group, and you don’t like what another group is saying, then all you have to do is accuse them of hate speech, and the established elite and media will work hard to silence anyone that you find disagreeable. It’s all about using counterfeit morality to silence anyone that you do not agree with, and you do it with the disguise and pretense that you are trying to prevent hate. What that really does is promote hatred, not reduce it. What it comes down to is that the established and powerful elites are trying to tell you who you should love, and who you should hate; according to a definition of morality that THEY have determined. And if you look at it objectively, you will notice that they don’t have the same standards across the board.
What it comes down to is that according to them, it’s okay to hate the people that we tell you to hate, but you better act and be speaking lovingly when it comes to the people that we tell you that you ought to like.
Example: Look at critical race theory. It’s considered okay to make all kinds of false exaggerations against people, just as long as what you’re saying is hostile against white people. You claim to be fighting racism, but racism is okay as long as you are speaking against white people. Hate speech is considered perfectly fine as long as you’re speaking hate speech against the people that we are telling you that you should hate.
Example: When U.S. Representative Maxine Waters went on a public street and told her supporters to gather around and physically harass conservatives, and not let them have any peace in restaurants, in theaters, or at gas stations, the leftist media establishment treated this as perfectly acceptable. It was not treated as hate speech, (even though, that is exactly what it was),The leftist establishment media did not even criticize it, because this particular hate speech was being done by a leftist against conservatives, and that was considered perfectly acceptable hate speech. So that made it okay.
Example: Try going to any BLM rally with a tee shirt that simply reads “ALL Lives Matter.” Be objective for a moment. How long do you think it would take for them to label you as racist, and to start both verbally and physically assaulting you? Don’t laugh. That is exactly what they have physically done in a number of places.
You see, the statement “ALL Lives Matter.” Is actually biblically true. It comes right out of the Biblical principle that God does not show favoritism, but He honors everyone who does right, regardless of their race, (e.g. Romans 2:11; Acts 10:34-35).
Nevertheless, the statement “ALL Lives Matter,” has now been declared to be racist by the left and by BLM, because it does not espouse that black people are automatically superior and more entitled than white people. Therefore, saying that, “ALL Lives Matter.” (which is the absolute truth), is now being targeted and labeled as hate speech, because it does not favor their agenda, and therefore it must be hate speech, right?!
Here is the thing. Facts are what they are. The facts are neutral. Now, how we interpret and how we use those facts might have biases, but the empirical facts themselves are absolutely neutral. Facts don’t care, and facts don’t change regardless of how we feel. Facts just are what they are.
Here is another important fact the leftists and politically correct folks love to ignore because it does not suit their narratives or personal preferences:
We absolutely have a legal and Constitutional protected right to free speech, (to freely Express thoughts and ideas). However, NOBODY has any legal or Constitutional right to be protected from ever being offended. If something you say offends me, then I should not try to shut you up. I need to present my case and my opposing view to yours, and people then are free to decide for themselves which of us they will believe. That’s what true freedom and liberty is.
At the same time, while we are free to express ourselves as we like, we need to remember that we will be judged by God for every word that comes out of our mouth, (Matthew 12:36-37). So, while we are free to say what we like, we will be held accountable by God for how we used our freedoms. Therefore, we should freely choose to censor OURSELVES, but for the sake of Godliness and NOT for political correctness; not for politically correct means of silencing all opposition. We should use our freedoms to achieve Biblical and Godly objectives. We should not use our freedoms to indulge our sinful nature, (Galatians 5:13-26).
As It Is Written:
“Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
(Ephesians 4:29–32 NKJV)
As far as what you should do, my advice is as follows
1. Do not try to be politically correct, it will only drive you crazy, and the standards will change from day-to-day.
2. Focus on facts. Focus on truth. Be as polite and as considerate as you can be, but don’t compromise facts and don’t compromise truth, just to get along; because no matter what you say, it is possible that you might offend somebody. People choose whether or not they are going to take offense.
3. Use the Golden rule as a guide, (Matthew 7:12). Try to speak to others in a way that you would want to be spoken to yourself.
Hope that helps. Peace be with you.
Brother Michel Lankford