In a 1906 speech President Theodore Roosevelt celebrated those who endeavor to point out evil and malfeasance in our country, but he also issued a prescient warning:

“An epidemic of indiscriminate assault upon character does no good, but very great harm. The soul of every scoundrel is gladdened whenever an honest man is assailed, or even when a scoundrel is untruthfully assailed.”

Welcome to today’s destructive age of partisan journalism, social media effrontery, and argument by insult. Roosevelt’s words, spoken over a century ago, provide a fair description of the political and cultural quagmire we now inhabit, one where honest debate is drowning in a sea of searing lies. lies.

Our coarse words and unforgiving attitudes toward those with differing values and beliefs makes compromise and problem solving nearly impossible because every honest disagreement is immediately presumed to be driven by some latent bigotry or other horrid flaw of character on the part of those who think differently from oneself. Rarely is the same acid scrutiny directed within by the attacker because the “truth” of each individual is now considered beyond either reproach or question; the faults in logic, reason, or morality now always lie on someone else’s doorstep, and both self-doubt and self-examination are banished from the brains of those offended by ideas that contradict their own.

The result of this implacable mindset is a complete inability to admit even the slightest possibility of error in one’s own thinking, coupled with an irrational hatred of those who think differently. Both of these problems are causes and outcomes of the intellectual insularity now available to those who get their information from sources that themselves admit no doubt, and the self-reinforcing loop of social media rage, suspiciously selective censorship, and “leaders” who encourage destructive division and profit from mistrust has crippled our conversations and turned us into a country perpetually at war with itself.

Just once I would love to hear an advocate for illegal immigration admit it might be a problem to erase our nation’s borders. I await the day when those proposing we continue our current spiral of uncontrolled government spending and debt recognize national insolvency is a distinct possibility. It would be nice if those encouraging Ukraine to launch strikes inside Russian territory acknowledged that igniting a wider regional war or nuclear strikes could be the result. Given that our world’s coral reefs are doing quite nicely, the glaciers have not melted, and wildfires are far less common than they were a century ago, just a little doubt on the part of climate change alarmists who are pressing to fundamentally change how we eat, live, and work would be welcome. Those who argue that babies in the womb are aware enough to decide whether they are transgender (but who magically lack all consciousness or feeling whenever restrictions on abortion are discussed) might benefit from taking a step back and re-examining their underlying assumptions about human development and the innocent suggestibility of children.

Unfortunately, honing critical thinking skills through discussion and debate has for too many decades been considered inherently insulting because failing to validate the beliefs of others is the worst of all possible sins; our schools and colleges have, therefore, striven to produce mush-minded graduates who celebrate an empty and ill-defined tolerance but cannot manage a thought process that goes beyond trading memes and slogans on TikTok. 

It is little wonder that asking many, even those who are supposedly well-educated, to construct an evidence-based argument to support their viewpoints becomes an exercise in futility. Like the sheep in George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm endlessly bleating “Four legs good, two legs bad”, a substantial segment of our society now clings to the questionable comforts of mindless certainty. This is both very sad and exceedingly frightening because no nation can long survive if stupidity and cupidity are the official policies.

We should also pay the closest attention to Teddy Roosevelt’s warning about one other important side-effect of tolerating or, as happens so frequently today, encouraging an atmosphere of false and malicious attack for fun and profit:

“Gross and reckless assaults on character, whether on the stump or in newspaper, magazine, or book, create a morbid and vicious public sentiment, and at the same time act as a profound deterrent to able men of normal sensitiveness and tend to prevent them from entering the public service at any price.”

If you should ever complain about the quality of individuals now willing to stand for public office, it might be a good idea to look in the mirror and ask whether you are lying, sneering, and insulting rather than thinking—along with the rest of the “tolerant”mob around you. If you have a concern, state the problem, acknowledge the various concerns and opinions surrounding it, and make your best case. 

Be the kind of American that America can be proud of. We will all benefit if we take this simple pledge together.