Blog 3607 – 09.18.2025

Cancel Culture – Attempting To Silence Differing Voices

Some people hears voices that constantly and continuously are accusing, condemning, and threatening them. Those voices are auditory hallucinations, but we all hear voices in our heads from time to time. Usually they are things that we have heard or read that come back to us. My dad jokingly said that the only voices that he ever heard usually came from the vicinity of the refrigerator saying, “Eat me!” The response those voices got from my dad was a, “That ought to shut you up” as he gobbled down those tempting and talkative leftovers.

Before I get too far afield from where I intend to go with this piece – Too late! Let me say it is most often a mistake to try to silence the differing voices in our heads or those that others espouse either by my dad’s way, or by cancel culture from the left or the right.

When a thought or voice comes to us that we do not agree, we just should not give it air or invest more energy or life into it than it deserves. Instead of arguing with those voices or disagreeing with them we should just hear them out and respond with, “We are just going to have to agree to disagree about that.”

One of my long time favorite authors, C.S. Lewis, was a Christian apologist, and no that does not mean he was apologizing for being a Christian, but rather that he was defending Christianity. He gave lectures both on radio and in person and wrote several books in which he made well-thought-out arguments for his faith. I recall reading in one of those books, and I have read everything that I could ever find of his in print, where Lewis said that his faith was never weaker than after giving one of his talks in defense of Christianity. Defending strongly held beliefs and opinions and trying to silence those differing voices in our heads often causes us to question our opinions, beliefs, and positions on the issues.

Crazy? Perhaps, but thinking minds question and those questions must be answered again and again. It is always possible to think we have it so right, yet still have it so very wrong. Therein lies the greatest danger of unfriending people who disagree with us, or trying to cancel, or silence all dissenting voices. The Spanish Inquisition far from silencing the opposition, like the stoning of Stephen attempted to silence an opposing voice, but only gave a larger megaphone to those differing voices.

The First Amendment guarantees free speech, the right to be heard, every voice. We still get to choose the voices that we agree with, give our undivided attention to, and choose to follow. If we hear them out, even the crazy far fetched ones, we might just learn something.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David James White