The York County Voices That Need to Be Silenced
Photo by Ernie A. Stephens on Unsplash
Surely there is some person in York County whose voice is a nuisance to you. I don’t mean the timbre or pitch of their voice, but rather their perspective or opinion on life in York County.
It is a well-established opinion that one should not read the comment section on Facebook for this reason. There is a somewhat reliable reputation that the comments on local posts quickly veer into nasty, unproductive territory. Dare engage with an internet troll and you could be stuck in a tit-for-tat argument that will likely ruin your day.
There are conceivably York County voices in those comment section posts that most of us would like to silence.
Whose voice in York County do you think needs to be silenced?
I posted my last piece, To Love York County When It Doesn’t Love You Back, in various locations on LinkedIn and Facebook, including the locally popular group called Fixing York PA. That particular post elicited almost 100 comments and a number of side discussions. You should head there and read the comments for yourself. Why York County can’t convince Wegman’s to build a location here comes up often in these discussions:)
Overall, I found the dialogue encouraging. There were a handful of posts that suggested that “if you don’t like York County, you should go back to where the #%*& you came from.”
This is a prime example of the perspective of one who wants to silence York County voices. They are not interested in dialogue or entertaining legitimate criticisms of our community. They simply want the noise to go away.
There are others in the comment sections who want these raging conversation-killers to also shut up and go away.
Still, others cannot fathom the prospect that York County might improve and wish the bright-eyed dreamers would quit their visions of a glorious York County. On the flip side, the dreamers wish the naysayers would give it a rest and embrace a little hope for something better.
One of my favorite comments was from Jamie Oberdick who wrote that York County is a “weird mix of rage-filled bizarre civic pride ("if you don't like York you can go the hell back where you came from") and Eyore-esque fatalism ("it'll never work why bother I'm going to go eat worms.") Those voices do seem to play prominent in York County comment sections.
Are there voices in York County that you wish could be turned down or silenced altogether? Can we be honest about the ways in which we find that desire in our own hearts?
If you are a progressive, do you wish those red, conservative voices would be quiet and vice-versa?
What about the voices that represent the City and the needs therein? Do you wish the complaining would cease and that the City would just get its act together?
I imagine that local police get weary of national criticism and that people who have had negative experiences with local police do not want to hear about the good things happening in York County policing.
Perhaps you think the voice of local business leaders is too loud or persuasive?
Maybe you are a community leader annoyed by the constant attacking rhetoric of local activists.
Pastors, I imagine you have some voices in your congregation you would love to silence.
Somewhere, within the recesses of our hearts and minds, we all probably have voices in York County we would like to silence.
A Note of Caution on Silencing York County Voices
There are a couple of reasons we should be slow to silence York County voices, especially dissenting ones.
Every York Countian has a unique and subjective perspective on life. Our experience of this County is not uniform. We are made up of different ethnic groups and socio-economic classes, have vastly different family situations, and have experienced varying levels of trauma. These perspectives absolutely shape the ways we see and think about York County. Some of us are more prone to see the dark and tragic side of the County, while others see a yellow-brick road of promise. It would do us all good to listen to a variety of York County perspectives.
Tolerance is vital to a thriving County Tolerance does not mean agreement, but rather is a basic respect and willingness to listen. You may still vehemently disagree with a perspective, but you at least made human space for those opinions to be aired.
It does not take a ton of work to be a tolerant York Countian. Make space. Listen. Dialogue. Learn. Repeat.
York County can get better by being open to prophetic criticism. It is not easy to listen to criticism of the place you love. As a Christian and pastor, I regularly read books by prominent atheists seeking to undermine Christianity. I do this not to learn how to argue, but because I want to be a person who is open to criticism. I don’t always get it right. I have been wrong. The Church has often gotten it wrong. If I silence those voices, I am cutting off the critique I might need to improve my faith.
We need to hear the prophetic voices of York County critics. There are people who have faced injustice and racism in this County. We need those critiques. There are other voices who challenge new developments here because they believe they are somehow disruptive of some cherished past. We should be careful to dismiss those voices.
The prophets of the Old Testament era in Scripture often announced doom and judgment as social and cultural critics of God’s people who were acting unjustly. God sent the prophets to critique the nation’s sin. We can’t cut off messages that sound like doom and gloom just because they make us uncomfortable. We need blind spots to be exposed so we can make the kinds of social improvements York County really needs.
York County also needs prophetic hopefulness. A County cannot sustain constant complaints though. Yes, we need to hear the ways in which this County fails to fulfill dreams, but we need the other side of the Old Testament prophetic witness. The prophets always rounded out their message of judgment with comfort and hope. God does not just point out flaws as some kind of Cosmic Nag, but always extends the promise of repentance, change, and hope.
York County needs hopeful voices in the mix.
One commenter mentioned that York seems to have a sort of communal depression, a kind of “things will never change here” attitude. York needs dreamers and visionaries to lead us out of that communal depression.
Realism and optimism need not be enemies.
A Symphony of Voices
York County needs the voices of critics, confrontational prophets, dreamers, and visionaries. We need the historian who reminds us of the good and even the sins of our collective past. We also need a mix of realism, pragmatism, and a boldly courageous vision for what could yet happen in this place.
Imagine a symphony that silenced the horn section, or one that only allowed the percussive instruments a voice.
A symphony is beautiful because it blends a variety of instruments and sounds with dynamic swells and movement.
The key to a symphony though is that each musician is playing from the same set of sheet music.
We need not silence voices in York County. That does not mean we should give a microphone to people who want to spew hateful and violent rhetoric or give voice to people who only want to cause the destruction of our community. I am not naive that these people exist.
I am talking though about refusing to silence those people who want to play from the same sheet of music, that is that they agree that they would really love to see a better York County. There are an abundance of these people living in York County.
It would be good for us to understand that some in our community cannot quite envision a better future, but they are eager for it.
Some have been disappointed by failed attempts, but are willing to try again.
Others are ready to try something bold and different and would love to not be stymied. They are open to feedback.
If we are all playing from that same sheet of music, the desire to make York County better, then surely we can refuse to silence voices, but rather blend our voices together in a hopeful symphony for the good of this place we call home.
