Introduction
The scene is a political rally for Stalin in the Soviet Union. A tribute to Stalin is called, and a standing ovation is given for a man who isn’t even present. Three minutes turns into five, and on it goes. No one dares to stop applauding even if they do not agree with the regime and even if they’re so exhausted they want to drop. Enthusiasm wanes as the applause goes on, stretching out to eight minutes. Everyone knows the police are watching, and even if they drop dead, they won’t stop clapping.
At eleven minutes in, a paper factory directory on the platform does what not even the leaders have dared do. He stops clapping and sits down. The false enthusiasm in the rest of the crowd disappears, and to a man, they too stop and sit. Russian Author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who saw much of this first hand, describes this very scene and concludes it on this note:
The squirrel had been smart enough to jump off his revolving wheel. That, however, was how they discovered who the independent people were. And that was how they went about eliminating them. That same night, the factory director was arrested. They easily pasted ten years on him on the pretext of something quite different. But after he had signed Form 206, the final document of the interrogation, his interrogator reminded him:
“Don’t ever be the first to stop applauding.”
The Gulag Archipelago, Solzhenitsyn
An Applause Mentality and Leftist Culture
So why start off with that quote from Solzhenitsyn and the story he told? Because our culture is much like the men watching for who would stop applauding first to find the independent ones and shut them down. How, you ask?
Well, we don’t arrest independent thinkers, yet, in this country. But what we have seen in the liberal/progressivist mentality is a shift from simply requesting that dissenting voices be silent to demanding that dissenters applaud even the most abhorrent acts known to man. I point out the liberals and their agenda (on a government scale, certainly, but also on a personal scale at times) because they are usually the ones who scream the loudest in this country. They’ve got a peculiar mob mentality and seem to think that if they shout louder than anyone else, they’ll be right.
It’s a very odd phenomenon that I’ve observed in person as well as secondhand, and I rarely see that in conservatives. Sure, conservatives have their issues, but shutting down free speech, mob mentality toward the opposition, and demanding that the opposition applaud what they’re doing aren’t usually among them. On average, conservatives tend to be the types who do what they believe is best and right and don’t care if it’s going to cause them trouble. (Note that this isn’t true of government officials, typically, even in the right wing/conservative group, but when it comes to behaviors seen in the voting demographic, this tends to be how things work.)
Now, it used to be that it was enough if we simply didn’t speak up loudly in opposition to liberal agendas on hot button issues such as education, abortion, racial issues, or LGBTQ+. No longer is tolerance enough. Today’s culture (or at least the loudest ones in it) demand that we also approve. We can’t stay quiet and just avoid voicing dissent to get by and avoid persecution anymore.
Nowhere is this more clearly seen than in those individuals who say such things as “All whites are racist devils from birth” or “It’s great that you whites supported us, but that doesn’t get you out of paying for what your ancestors did” or “You support pro-life? Then you’re anti-women, sexist, and straight up backwards-minded”. These are things I’ve actually seen and heard people say!
If we need any further evidence that ours is an applause culture, we need look no further than these examples or the current chaos going on over black rights, defunding the police, and silencing anyone who disagrees. Even blacks are not exempt from the wrath of people in the BLM movement, for example, if they choose to speak up and dissent. One black veteran, who spoke out against the mentality and culture in black communities that has led to the violence we’re seeing now, was injured in a hit and run shortly after by protesters who didn’t like what he’d said. Another black man who dissented and spoke out against them for their behavior was shot in the head and died for daring to speak out. That doesn’t even begin to include the number of black cops who have died trying to defend innocents from angry mobs who only showed up to kill, loot, and destroy.
Other Examples
In case what I gave earlier wasn’t enough, let’s look at some other examples.
Anyone who’s not willing to applaud BLM and the rioting going on right now? Well, we’ve already seen what happened to individuals from the black community itself who disagreed. But if you’re white? How can you be so racist? That’s the outcry. You aren’t supporting us? Your silence on it doesn’t exonerate you. It means you support our oppression and hate us like the racist bigots you are. At one time, silence on the issue wouldn’t be an indicator of wanting oppression to continue. It would’ve meant the person didn’t agree with some subset of what was being said or simply had no opinion on the issue.
Christian artists who run their own businesses? It used to be enough for you to just be quiet about your beliefs regarding the LGBTQ+ community. You weren’t targeted by the hateful segment of the community (and to be clear, not everyone in the community is hateful. I’ve known some really awesome people who were a part of the community. I didn’t approve of their lifestyle, but they remain some of the kindest, nicest people I’ve ever known.), and you weren’t forced to create works of art celebrating a lifestyle you had a religious and conscionable objection to. But not anymore. Show your support and celebrate their lifestyle or end up in court and lose your own lifestyle because you wouldn’t applaud like everyone else.
What about pro-lifers? You aren’t willing to openly show your support for those who want to help women murder their own babies in the womb? You dare to tell those women, however gently or kindly, that there’s another option? You want to take away the choice to murder a baby and leave them with only three options (contraception, abstinence, or pregnancy)? Then you’re against women and want to force them to carry a baby against their will. Being quietly pro-life will no longer protect you from the social suicide of having an opinion that isn’t socially accepted.
What about those who want to raise their own children and teach them without government interference? According to an article published in Harvard’s journal and written by a Harvard lawyer/professor, you’re a nutcase and your children will be white supremacists (never mind the fact that there’s a sizable community of black and Hispanic homeschoolers too). If they don’t show immediate signs of white supremacy, then they’re just ticking time bombs. Worse still, they’re probably going to end up being religious (because that’s such a bad thing in a country that has historically prized freedom of religion).
Furthermore, you’re abusing your child because you might not be educated enough to provide them quality education. (Statistics actually show that homeschoolers generally outperform public and private schoolers on standardized tests, which are the generally accepted method of testing how well-educated and intelligent a given student is compared to the rest of the student population from any given demographic.) Society looks down on homeschooled kids. While they can generally get into colleges with their standardized achievement test scores, some colleges have more rigorous and difficult enrollment requirements for homeschoolers specifically. We have to jump through more hoops simply because our parents dared to educate us at home even if we’ve proven we’re just as well-educated and smart as any of our peers in a government run school.
What if you dare to stop applauding?
No matter how polite you are in daring to sit down, society will decry you. They can’t handle any voices that don’t fit the narrative that liberal government and media have established. There’s no room in our system for voices that disagree. We’re too advanced and intelligent for that, and anyone who doesn’t agree with the generally accepted beliefs that the majority (or the loudest voices) promotes is backwards and, possibly, a danger to society.
If you’re a public figure, you’ll find your character will be demeaned and your goals, however honorable, decried simply because you were the one who dared have them. Heaven help you if you’re a conservative Christian who refuses to comply. You’re going to be socially crucified.
The Leftist mentality can tolerate no independent thinkers if the conclusion is one that doesn’t fit with their narrative and their goals. While not every individual who is a Democrat or liberal is like this (I’ve known my fair share of those who are more polite than some conservatives and Republicans I know), the overall mindset promoted and pushed by the Leftist, liberal agenda is one of intolerance toward anyone who doesn’t conform and applaud for their ways and their agendas.
As I said earlier, I’ve been on the receiving end of their intolerant, hateful attitude toward anyone who disagrees more than once. As an author who is Christian and also unafraid to speak my mind, I’ve personally experienced the backlash from a mob of Leftist liberals who didn’t like the fact that I didn’t support everything they thought I should. I’ve been called a racist, labeled as un-Christian because I wouldn’t approve of the things God has clearly denounced as sinful and wicked, called unintelligent and told I’m living in a fantasy world when I presented stats and facts that contradicted what was being claimed, mocked because of being a homeschooler, accused of being bigoted because I didn’t agree with murder in the name of “justice”, and looked down on as naive just because I was Christian. People make judgments about me all the time because of my background without even knowing me and, often, without actually listening to anything I’ve said. The list goes on.
If I’ve learned anything about society during my childhood and teen years, it’s that no matter how hard someone tries to fit in and do what they’re told to, think what they’re told to, and say what they’re told to, it will never be enough. More will always be demanded, especially in a society rushing headlong into insanity and depravity. I learned early on not to bother trying to fit in. I learned that doing the right thing was always more important than the socially acceptable thing. I learned that while there is a kind way to tell someone they’re believing a load of lies, it isn’t kind or loving to allow someone to believe lies to their own detriment. I experienced the hatred society had for people like me firsthand growing up.
My first exposure to the ugliness of racism was on the playground when I asked a few black kids to play, thinking they might want to be included because most kids do, and I was told “White kids don’t play with black kids.” They said that with as much disdain and harshness as little kids can muster. But they learned it from somewhere. I ran into that attitude frequently from blacks around me, just as much as I ran into blacks who were some of the sweetest, kindest people I knew. And I learned from that. I learned that ugliness exists in humanity regardless of color or “race”. I learned that two people who look very similar can be totally opposite in their behaviors, thought patterns, and treatment of others around them. Selfish, rude, bigoted behavior can exist on any level in any person regardless of race, sexual orientation, or religion because people are people no matter what shape or color they may come in.
Is my viewpoint popular? No. Do I know exactly what it’s like to live in the culture that blacks live in where kids often get picked on for wanting to learn because it’s more cool to skip class instead (something I’ve heard a few blacks say lately)? No, I don’t. But that doesn’t mean I don’t know what discrimination and disdain for someone else on the basis of something they can’t change looks like. I do know that first hand, and it makes me sad that anyone would have to experience that today. Equally, it makes me very, very angry when I see anyone treating someone as if they’re a lesser human being for any reason, regardless of what that reason is, because I know what it’s like to be the one frowned upon, disapproved of, and shunned just because I didn’t fit the system’s narrative.
Why Christians Need to Stop Applauding Today’s Culture and Society
The most obvious reason to stop applauding is that we’re being asked to applaud out-and-out wickedness. I’ll be the first in line to applaud things like putting a corrupt cop in jail for unnecessary force that led to anyone’s death, arresting those who allow hatred of another to cloud their vision to the point that they commit murder, or giving the death sentence to a serial rapist. I’d also be the first in line, however, to demand that abortions stop because they are taking the lives of babies, and we are not given the permission to take the life of anyone except in very specific instances, none of which include killing infants who haven’t done anything wrong. I’ll be the first in line to applaud dealing with clear cases of injustice in our world that lead to the mistreatment of those around me even if I disagree with those people’s lifestyles or moral choices because injustice is injustice and that person has an inalienable right to the same freedoms I enjoy regardless of what I think of them personally.
But I will never applaud for those who want anarchy, for those who hate another just because they’re a different color (and to clarify, that means both black and white groups because both do this and have done it in the past), for those blaming an entire skin color group for their problems as if every individual in that group is to blame by virtue of the skin tone they were born with, for those who ignore the facts and the truth in favor of emotion and pure evil, for those who want to kill defenseless babies, for those who want to subvert or outright destroy the concept that marriage is between one man and one woman as God ordained it, or for those who advocate murdering those who did nothing wrong. That’s a group that stands for sin and injustice, not for good and justice, and for those people I refuse to applaud.
And make no mistake about this. No Christian who is going to stand by Scripture and God would or should support those things. Beyond that, a Christian living in the light of God’s Word will not applaud anything that Word says is evil or sinful. As such, though we are called to love those who do sinful things, we must be the first to stop clapping for what they’re doing, even if the system demands our applause. If refusing to applaud gains us persecution in any form, so be it. We obey God first and our authorities in so far as they do not demand we do something directly against God’s commands.
We are called to be salt and light to a dying world. Light should hold no darkness or untruth in it, nor should it applaud those things. We are called to love those around us. But love does not stand aside and stay silent as those it is directed toward run to their ultimate demise. It stands in the way, earnestly pleads with the erring one, and speaks truth even at its own expense.
Doing what we’ve been called to do means facing suffering and persecution. We need to do it anyway.
So I’m sitting down. I will be the first to stop clapping for the evils our society is promoting, even if I choose not to clap and no one follows suit. If that means arrest, social suicide, or actual death in order to stand by my God and what is true, right, and pure, so be it. To go against God and conscience to stand for evil and sin is neither safe nor wise.
Conclusion
To my brothers and sisters in Christ… Please stop applauding what is going on in today’s society. The looting, burning, rioting, killing of innocents, abortion of our own children, and destruction of the Biblical principles our country stood on for more than a century after its founding are sickening to God. He makes it clear that murder, hatred, destruction of others, theft, and insubordination to authority (except in the case where demanded to go against God Himself, who is the ultimate authority) are unacceptable. They are sin.
We must be the light to a dying world, or we must bear a guilt and shame far greater than anything that could be laid at our feet by the world for not having the “politically correct” actions and words. Our shame should be rooted in our applause for the world’s insanity in the first place. Our ancestors may have applauded slavery in their time, and that was to their shame. We now applaud further evils in the name of reversing the evil that our ancestors (in some of our cases, anyway) created by applauding the evils of their day. If we should need to apologize for anything to the world around us, it should be for living in a way that told them God was a joke and His Word a lie. It should be for not loving them enough to sit down and stop applauding for their wickedness. It should be for not caring enough to stand up for the truth and to plead with them earnestly to repent before it’s too late. Those are the things we need to apologize for if we claim to believe in God and His Word but then applaud the world because in doing that, we have defied our Lord’s commands and made Him a liar to a lost and dying world.
So Christians, let’s be the first to stop clapping for everything that should make us weep for the atrocities being committed. That is our moral duty and our God-given responsibility if we’re going to be salt and light as we’ve been called to be. It’s time we took it seriously.