Beware How You Describe Your Opponents

Words Shape Vision, and Vision Shapes Behavior

Photo by Afif Ramdhasuma on Unsplash

America stands at a precipice where political disagreement is too often framed as moral damnation. Instead of debating ideas, we demonize people. Instead of challenging policies, we assign motive. Instead of persuasion, we reach for condemnation. And when condemnation ripens, it produces its bitter fruit, justifying cruelty, violence, and even the destruction of our fellow citizens.

Every generation must relearn an ancient truth: the way we speak about those we consider our opponents inevitably determines the way we treat them. This is not merely a matter of etiquette or rhetorical restraint. It is a matter of national survival, moral integrity, and spiritual fidelity. When language becomes distorted, hearts follow. And when hearts harden, hands move toward actions that were once unthinkable.

The Slippery Path from Description to Dehumanization

There is a direct and predictable progression:

Exaggeration → Caricature → Demonization → Dehumanization → Violence.

Once a person or group has been linguistically placed outside the bounds of humanity, morality, or legitimate citizenship, the moral safeguards around how they should be treated begin to dissolve. History offers endless examples, but we need not travel far; we need only look at the rhetoric in our own nation.

We are watching, in real time, how mislabeling political opponents corrodes our ability to coexist. When someone believes, truly believes, that their neighbor, coworker, or political rival is the “literal second coming of Hitler,” the thought of violence begins to feel like virtue. When a leader is framed as an existential evil, then resistance, even at its most extreme, can be rationalized.

The tragic attempts on Donald Trump’s life and the recent public assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk are a sobering example. They are not isolated incidents rising from deranged individuals alone. They grow in soil prepared by rhetoric that paints millions of Americans, not just Trump or Charlie, as irredeemable threats to democracy, fascists, extremists, racists, and monsters. This is why words matter. This is why precision is moral. This is why restraint is patriotic.

I recently heard a piercing statement that captures this peril with chilling clarity:
“They don’t want to kill us because we are fascists; they call us fascists so they can kill us.”

This is not merely provocative. It’s diagnostic. Labels become licenses.
Dehumanizing language becomes a moral permission slip for actions we would otherwise condemn.

The Temptation to Demonize Is Real—For All Sides

Let us be honest with ourselves: this danger is not confined to the left. Conservatives must guard our own hearts, too. The temptation to caricature those who oppose us politically can feel cathartic. It can even feel righteous. But it is spiritually corrosive and strategically disastrous. The tongue is a rudder. It sets the direction of our hearts. And the hearts of millions knitted together sets the direction of our nation.

When we describe opponents as enemies of the state, enemies of God, or enemies of America simply because they differ in policy, we risk drifting into the very mindset we criticize. We must resist reducing people to their worst ideas, least wise moments, or most extreme representatives.

The person who disagrees with you may be wrong, but still made in the image of God. They may be misinformed, but still worthy of dignity. They may be profoundly misguided, but still redeemable.

What if we treated opponents as misguided neighbors rather than malevolent threats? What if we remembered that persuasion requires respect, not revulsion? What if we insisted that truth and love walk hand-in-hand? This is not weakness. It is strength. It is not concession. It is conviction.

Truth vs. Lies: The Moral Battlefield of Language

At its core, this issue is about truth: what we speak, what we believe, and what we affirm about others. Lies imprison us. Truth liberates us.

There are two kinds of lies we must reject:

1. Lies That Inflate Evil

When we exaggerate the wickedness of our opponents, we tether ourselves to fear. Fear-based politics cannot produce virtuous outcomes. A fearful people will always justify drastic acts to protect themselves.

2. Lies That Justify Retaliation