The Stones Are Silent

In the Gospel of Luke (19:39-40) we are told that the Pharisees asked Jesus to reprimand his disciples for speaking out.  Jesus gave this cryptic response, “I tell you, if my disciples keep silence the very stones will shout aloud.”  Jesus was saying that the moment was so critical, so significant, so important, that even if his disciples withheld their voices, the very stones would cry out!  Yesterday, in a critical moment, so significant, so important, so foundational to our democracy, the “disciples” remained silent, the minority squeaked, and the stones were mute.  Am I making a mountain out of a molehill?

In 2000, the TV news in Russia criticized Vladimir Putin over the Kursk (submarine) incident. This kind of free press and free speech [criticism] was unacceptable to Putin.  His solution was to make the news media state-run outlets.  Pavlovsky, Putin’s former advisor said, “I think that he (Putin) began to think that everything can be manipulated.  Any kind of press, any TV program is all about manipulation.”  Putin, over the next few years, manipulated, until the free press in Russia disappeared!  Putin is an autocratic leader who finds it imperative to control the narrative.  “He acts as a professor, as a lecturer.  He [explains] to us what Russia history was like, what values we have, what we should believe in.”

In May 2018, Donald Trump suggested taking away news networks’ press credentials over “negative” coverage.  “The Fake News is working overtime,” he tweeted “Just reported that, despite the tremendous success we are having with the economy & all things else, 91% of the Network News about me is negative (Fake).  Why do we work so hard in working with the media when it is corrupt?  Take away credentials?”  Was it just another Twitter tantrum or a serious threat?  Either way, there should have been some outrage, since the very suggestion is a violation of the Constitution.  But the disciples were silent, the minority squeaked, and the stones were mute.

Yesterday we were told that Donald Trump (with input from Rand Paul) is looking into revoking the security clearances of several former intelligence and law enforcement officials. White House Press Secretary  Sanders said Trump is “exploring mechanisms” to remove the clearances “because [the former officials] politicized and in some cases actually monetized their public service and their security clearances.  Making baseless accusations of improper contact with Russia or being influenced by Russia against the president is extremely inappropriate.”  Their clearances, Sanders said, give “inappropriate legitimacy to accusations with zero evidence.”

And the disciples muttered, and the minority opposition squeaked, and the stones said nothing at all!

Bend your ear, listen to the pulse of the earth, hear what the
stones cry.....