Books like this one are the ones that make me unsure about calling what I do here at Semicolon “book reviews.” I’m not sure Rene Gutteridge’s thriller/mystery/adult novel Listen was all that well written, although it was certainly adequate and told a straightforward story. There were a few places where the motivations of the characters were unclear to me. And I thought the plot had a few holes in it. The characters were OK, but none of them was all that complicated or showed that much growth and change.

Nevertheless, Listen made me think about important stuff, and it held my interest all day today as I read it. And if a book makes me think, I value and recommend it. I’m not that interested in finding the picky little issues that make the book less than critically acclaimed and worthy and pointing them out to all of you (if I’m smart enough to find and articulate those problems in the first place). If that lack of attention to critical detail makes me a bad reviewer, then maybe I’m not really a reviewer. Maybe I’m just a book talker. Or a book discusser.

So, now that I’ve got that distinction off my chest, Listen by Rene Gutteridge made me think about words and the power of words and about gossip and privacy and about what we should post on the Internet and how seriously we should take the words of others posted on blogs or Facebook or Twitter for all to see. I have a friend who posted some pictures on her Facebook page a few months ago. Some people in her church didn’t like the pictures, or the captions that went with them, and didn’t think they were appropriate. These people took their concerns to the church leadership instead of to the young lady in question. The entire matter became a huge Issue, and a lot of people were hurt. Some of them are still hurting.

Listen deals with this problem of words and how accusations and indiscreet words can hurt, especially when those allegations and loose words become public and get distorted by gossip and hearsay. In the book, someone is posting private conversations verbatim on the internet. People start reading and see their own words and words about themselves, and people get hurt and lose trust in one another. The website in the book, called www.listentoyourself.net, is made up of random private conversations that the website author somehow manages to overhear and transcribe. Nevertheless, even though this is a book about the power of the internet, it’s also a book about a problem as old as humanity itself–the power of the tongue and of words to both heal and harm.

When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. James 3:3-9

What do you think? What should we do about words that we see and read on the internet? If you see words that you think are harmful to either the person posting them or to others, how do you respond? If the words are public (on the internet), should your response also be public? What if the words have nothing to do with you? Is it still your business?Should you insert yourself, either publicly or privately, into a conflict that others are having in a public forum? If so, when? Should people say things in private that they would be embarrassed to have made public for all to see? Should we say everything (on Facebook, for instance) that we’re thinking as long as we don’t think it will hurt anyone else? What kind of power do words have? Where do you draw the line in sharing personal details about your life on your blog or on other websites? How can we tame our tongues so as not to hurt and wound others?

If you’ve read Listen, you may have even more insight into some of these questions. If you’re concerned with these sorts of problems and issues, you may want to pick up a copy of Rene Gutteridge’s thought-provoking book.

If you have a Kindle, you can get a copy of Listen free at Amazon.