Opus 2026-394: To Be Fair

There are certain things we say which reflect the Christian heritage of our culture.  One of them is “to be fair”.  Originally it reflected a standard established by God that we were to refer to in making decisions and judgements.

It does not mean what it used to mean.

It has been mutated from its foundations.

We have two places where it is common.  One is the person who is trying to avoid taking a stand.  I am sure you have seen and heard this.  When someone talks about American history they will say, “To be fair...” and proceed to being totally one sided.  

The other is the person who is trying to manipulate and box you into his agenda.  He will say things like “I just want to be fair”.  What he means is “I want to shame you into surrendering the high ground.”

I get tired of people who talk about big issues and start off by saying “to be fair” and then go down the path of unfairness.  Think about people who talk about American history.  Often times they will be starting off and saying something like “to be fair we have to admit that we do have sins in our past. We have slavery.…”  After that, they kind of run out of things to say.  What they should be saying is, “to be fair we do have some sins in our past, but then, so does everybody else.  The difference is that we have addressed those sins and have tried to remedy them.”  Has the Muslim world ever admitted their participation in slavery and ask for forgiveness?  For that matter, have they even renounced it yet?  And yet we are the ones confessing our sin.

This is the pattern pretty much everywhere.  Do we have things that we’re not perfect in our past?  Of course we do.  We’re human.  We make mistakes.  But again the difference with the United States is that we have moved forward to become a force of righteousness and goodness in the world instead of wallowing in the filth of our past.

Be fair.  While you’re at it, be honest.

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