In 2016 Trump famously called Mexicans rapists and drug addicts, and his detractors went wild. "He's a racist. He hates Hispanics." In truth, Trump said no such thing. What he said was that many of the people illegally crossing the southern border do illegal things. But because the sound bytes linked "Mexico" to "people crossing the border," it became a racism problem. So recently a Saudi gunman training at a Florida navy base killed three people before being shot to death, and Trump is in trouble again for defending Saudis. Apparently, then, we are supposed to hate the race of the people who have one person that commits a crime. Okay, maybe not the race; just the country.
I'm not writing about Trump. I'm not writing about racism or illegal immigration or the Saudis. I'm writing about how incredibly comfortable we seem to be these days with double standards. And I think that "these days" may be generous. I think there has always been a "double standard" tendency. We're just seeing it mainstreamed and out front these days. We're seeing it practiced loud and proud. The Left is obvious in it. For example, it's bad to be intolerant unless it's something or someone they choose to be intolerant about. It's evil to be exclusive and they choose to exclude any who don't meet their standard of inclusivity. Hate is wrong and they'll hate anyone they classify as hateful. "You're not supposed to be judgmental, and we will harshly judge anyone who is." Just some examples. But it's not just the Left. Just compare the Right in Obama's era with the Left in Trump's era. The Right was just as irate with Obama, but it was justified then, right? When the Right stands on political ground, it's principle; when the Left does it it's politics. "You need to give Christians religious freedom in this country," they will cry, but they aren't too keen in giving, say, Muslims the same. Double standards.
But, look, people are people. The majority of people are not believers. As such, they are subject to "the god of this world," the "prince of the power of the air." Without trying to be unkind in any way, it's pretty clear that natural human beings are operating with deceitful hearts and cannot be expected to be good by God's standards. It's just the nature of the beast, so to speak. So the double standard there is not good, but it's not surprising, either. On the other hand, what about believers? I'd suggest that too many of us are subject to the same error. It is a standing joke, for instance, that "All sins are bad, but yours are worse than mine." We decry the Pharisee -- "God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector." -- and practice the same, considering ourselves better people because we're believers. We are outraged at the sins of fellow Christians and seek to correct them and then we're outraged if a fellow believer calls us on a sin we've committed and seeks to correct us. We complain about the poor thinking that others do -- the poor arguments or theology or the like -- not realizing that too often we're not thinking straight ourselves. It's not just the Left or the Right or the unbeliever who happily carries a double standard.
Jesus said we should take the log out of our own eye before we deal with the speck in another's eye (Matt 7:3-5). Maybe we should try that out on this topic as well. We can easily see the double standards around us. Are we aware of our own? Are we checking ourselves for the same? Do we realize our own tendency to condemn others and excuse ourselves? Conversely, do we extend the same grace and mercy that we do for ourselves or expect from others? Do we apply to ourselves the same standards that we apply to others? It might be worth keeping in mind.
5 comments:
You could have also used the recent shooting in New Jersey as an example as well. I think that a big part of this isn't having double standards, it's pretending that we don't. There are times when I've blogged about something and acknowledged that I had, at a minimum, an apparent double standard.
I think part of the issue is the tendency of people to edit or twist the words of others in the furtherance of their double standard or their narrative.
I think the fact that others have a double standard is irrefutable. The New Jersey incident would be a prime example. My concern here is that we avoid doing the same thing. While I'm sure those with double standards will be upset with what I wrote, I've not attempted to address their problem; I'm addressing our own.
I don’t disagree. It’s something I try very hard to do. It’s why I didn’t vote for Trump. Although, there have been some instances where I do have a double standard, and I’ve admitted it.
I try to avoid them, but sometimes the problem isn't a double standard. Sometimes the problem is figuring out exactly what the standard is. As an easy example, "Would you let your 18-year-old drive?" "Yeah, sure." "How about your 8-year-old?" "Oh, no." "Aha! A double standard." No, the standard isn't "Do they exist?" but "Are they legal, capable, etc.?"
A liberal in the Pacific Northwest uses her social media to tell the world about how awful white nationalists are, what with their proclivity for wearing red hats and making "okay" gestures with their hands. So far not a peep out of her regarding black nationalists in New Jersey targeting Jews with their guns. I don't guess CNN will make a big deal out of this particular news story either.
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