Assailing the Fortress, Part I

I have watched and pondered a certain unhappy dynamic for a while, and I think I'm ready to discuss it.  I have noticed that it is becoming ever more popular and acceptable these days to "assail the fortress," and I'm concerned about the direction that is taking us all.  

Let me explain.

It used to be downright dangerous to criticize those with social, political or religious power.  I suppose that may have been due, at one time, to the fact that if you did so, you got burned at the stake or your head chopped off or some other similarly uncomfortable consequence.  You had to think twice before you disagreed with those who held authority, before you accused a ruler, leader or institution of misbehavior.  In many cases, you had to consider whether speaking up was worth rotting in jail or losing your life.  "Assailing the fortress," so to speak, was not to be done off-handedly.  Unlike the peasants in "The Wizard of Iz," you couldn't just go around declaring "The king is a fink!" with impunity.

Freedom of speech was a great invention, as was investigative reporting.  Things can now be said (in some countries, anyhow) that need to be said, and people held accountable who should be held accountable.  We can snag and impeach a Watergate president, call a Tiger Woods on his immoral behavior and cancel his endorsements, or nail a Catholic bishop for neglecting action to protect children from a pedophile priest. We can have conversations about social, religious or political institutions that need to be changed in this or that way.  We can pull together a grassroots movement that will establish civil rights, stop a war, or protest an unjust law.  This is good.

A person, institution or societal injustice is no longer above questioning, and no longer can possess absolute power. After all, we are a democratic society.  Democracy has set into our adolescent country's psyche, and we are now empowered to assail any fortress.  Power to the people!  Freedom of speech!  We can take down Evil, either single-handedly or as a mob, should we need to.

But wait.  There may be a dark side to that.

(to be continued)