I wrote the other day about how easy it is to generate outrage. I posted a fun picture of my small dog encountering a large deer. A lady accused me of not being careful. Then others took her to task for the way she implied that people who enjoy the picture “must not be from Colorado,” etc., etc.

I discovered a few days later one reason that things escalate so quickly: people are not careful about how they say what they say.

A lady from the nearby (small, old) town of Palmer Lake posted her extreme dislike for a new sign the city had put up. It was large, ugly, didn’t fit with the town,… How did it get there? Who approved it? (By the way, the sign was erected in November 2021!)

Someone explained that it was approved by the town council after a long and public process back in 2020. That he was on the council and had voted for it. Others said they liked the sign. Still others said that there would be adjustments and they would love to have the lady’s input “if she could get over being bitter.”

Here’s the kicker: the original poster replied, “I’m not bitter.”

Well, I’m just an innocent bystander with no skin in the game, and let me tell you, she sounded bitter to me. Or angry. Or belligerent. I don’t know what word I would have used to describe her post except it wouldn’t be “pleasant.”

Is how we write part of the problem? I know that some people who post are “outraged” or angry, but some aren’t…at first. But the way they post leads people to believe that they are angry, and then others respond in kind, and it escalates.

If we’re going to post, let’s use our words carefully. I’m pleased that when I tried to tone down the rhetoric in my NextDoor string about the dog and the deer, someone posted, “I appreciate your attempted peacemaking.”

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)

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. (Romans 12.18, ESV)