God is good, but I nearly missed it — nearly missed seeing his goodness.
I was looking the other way, looking up to the people at the top, envying the wicked who have it made, who have nothing to worry about, not a care in the whole wide world.
Pretentious with arrogance, they wear the latest fashions in violence.  Pampered and overfed, decked out in silk bows of silliness.  They jeer, using words to kill; they bully their way with words.  They’re full of hot air, loudmouths disturbing the peace.  People actually listen to them — can you believe it?  Like thirsty puppies, they lap up their words?
What’s going on here?  Is God out to lunch?  Nobody’s tending the store.  The wicked get by with everything; they have it made, piling up riches.
I’ve been stupid to play by the rules; what has it gotten me?
A long run of bad luck, that’s what — a slap in the face every time I walk out the door.

Well, that’s the first half of Psalm 73 (The Message translation), but I didn’t do it with quotes.  I put it in my own voice, because I didn’t want to just quote it.
In the second half of the Psalm, the writer pulls himself back from the brink of bitterness and despair and reminds himself in the very last verse, “I’ve made the Lord God my home…” in order to prevent himself from organizing his life around the shadow dwellers.
Yes, he has to deal with them, but doesn’t have to organize his life around them and their perspective, even as he stands in opposition to them.  They do not define him, and his life has freshness that does not depend on their opposition (which is what he anchors in again in the last verse).
This summary of characteristics of this kind of people was accurate a thousand years before Christ, and it’s accurate today.  They’re no fun to deal with, which is why we usually don’t — until we think we have no choice.

The violent reactions and counter-accusations when someone simply says what is so, or turns on a light is amazing. In the chaos that follows we may stumble into a defensive posture out of instinct and breeding, accepting the premise that we have no right to make others uncomfortable by turning on a light.
But I don’t have to compare truth with falsehood before I know what’s true — very often, the source is what determines truth–not exhaustive comparisons.  Comparisons of information may play a part in communication, but it is an energy-consuming waste of time to accept the demand that we have no right to say “this is true” until we have exhaustively answered every falsehood that bubbles around every truth.
Falsehood is not only the root of deception…it is also used as deflection to prevent us from exposing deception.  Skillful mind games favor the deceivers, just because of experience and intent, while the truth tellers are often polite and yield to the demand that they cannot just declare the truth…they are required to defend it. Truth does not need defending–it needs declaring.
While telling “both sides of the story” is inherently a part of our justice system (at least, it was at one time), the assumption that we are compelled to listen to the deceivers’ version of things before we get to turn the lights on is nonsense.  That’s what has gotten us to where we are. How has that worked out?  Why don’t we turn things — demand that they listen to our version of things before they’re allowed to present theirs?
I do not have to immerse myself in the falsehoods or the deceptions before I’m qualified to expose it.
Believing that we have some ethical obligation to understand deception makes it an equally deserving speaker on the stage of our nation and our lives. If we give it a speaker’s slot we can just as well pack up and go home, because it will filibuster.
Community is messy and learning how to speak up is messy and a bit un-nerving if, like me, you didn’t start doing it until you were up in years.
Public debate/taking a stand is pratfall-prone for the inexperienced but when there’s so much at stake I’d rather be on the barricades learning than in the house trembling.
Truth does not attract only truth-lovers: it also attracts those who are afraid of it and those who see it as an enemy because they know that it constitutes a threat to their long-established traditions, their power over others, and the precious practices which are necessary to their power, their careers and their lifestyles.
The Sovereign God addresses such folks in the latter part of Psalm 50:

What are you up, quoting my laws, talking like we are good friends?  You never answer the door when I call; you treat my words like garbage.
If you find a thief, you make him your buddy; adulterers are your friends of choice.  Your mouth drools filth; lying is a serious art form with you.  You stab your own brother in the back, rip off your little sister.
I kept a quiet patience while you did these things; you thought I went along with your game.  I’m calling you on the carpet, now, laying your wickedness out in plain sight.
Time’s up for playing fast and loose with me.  I’m ready to pass sentence, and there’s no help in sight!

It’s the praising life that honors me.  As soon as you set your foot on the Way, I’ll show you my salvation.

(The Message translation)  Note: The Message is a translation. It is not a paraphrase .