I have been thinking a lot lately about social media... including Facebook and Twitter (and, yes, blogging!)... and I think we are becoming--for good or ill--a culture that handles its grievances publicly. The language of gossip and slander have become acceptable fare for the public eye... and not just for young, sophomoric teens who don't know better and are busy trying to navigate the tricky waters of junior high school and who like to post mean things about their peers in the process. But grown adults... twenty-somethings and beyond... are taking their issues, with great specificity, "to the wall." And the more sensational the issue, the more comments it receives. The more comments it receives, the more eyes view it. And so the vicious cycle continues and escalates.
This is in sharp contrast to the admonition of the scriptures: "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone, " Matthew 18:15 (ESV).
I am reminded of the words of Benvolio in the Shakespearean play most of us studied in high school, and which I studied again in college:
"We talk here in the public haunt of men.
Either withdraw unto some private place,
And reason coldly of your grievances,
Or else depart; here all eyes gaze upon us."
Romeo and Juliet, III. i. 50-53
