The Pendulum

"Black Lives Matter" has bought about a backlash. Stories circulate from the Internet-that wellspring of truth-about a veteran beaten up by a gang of black youths who taunted him with, "Do you believe black lives matter?" (Personally, I'd have offered them all a Dr Pepper and invited them to sit down with me and tell me about it.) Who wants a return of the race riots of the 60s or worse yet, the Tulsa Race Riot in the 1920s, the deadliest riot in history?
The pendulum swung far to the left during the era of "Politically Correct" speech and "Inclusive Language." We couldn't say or write "he" or "him" in speaking broadly of people, but had to use a vague "they" and "them." Poetry loses its cadence and beauty when we replace "Who can dwell on your holy hill. . .He whose walk is blameless," with "Those who walk blamelessly" (as in the New Revised Standard Version.)
Now, after some decades of "PC" talk, we have a political candidate who makes fun of disabled people, casts misogynistic slurs and openly expresses disdain for Mexicans. His popularity swells because many are simply fed up with this reverse racism and contrived political correctness. Welcome again to the abuse of civility as the pendulum swings far to the right.
My friend and former co-worker Steve taught this wisdom to the kids he served at a children's home: "You don't have to verbalize every thought that comes into your head." The Psalmist says "Set a guard O Lord over my mouth: keep watch over the door my lips." --Psalm141:3.
The PC movement's point became lost through slavish over-use. The world and society keep bouncing between extremes, never staying for long in the truth.
The truth is love. All lives matter. God said so,  Jesus said that the Father notices every sparrow that falls, and declared that you are of greater worth than many sparrows.
Peter proclaimed from Old Testament scripture: "Those who would desire life and desire to see good days, let them keep their tongues from evil and their lips from speaking deceit."
We Christians need to climb down from the pendulum swing and teach others, especially politicians, how to talk.