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Civility is dying, and only we can save it.<\/p>\n
There seems to be less and less formal politeness and courtesy when it comes to public behavior and especially public discussion.\u00a0 If fact, \u201cdiscussion\u201d itself seems to be at an all-time low, replaced with argument, ranting, protest and personal attack.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m fortunate to associate with a great many intelligent, articulate people from all walks of life, female and male, old friends and new, encompassing a wide range of ages, economic status and ethnicity.\u00a0 If you are reading this, then it\u2019s very likely that you are among those in my life for whom I am grateful.\u00a0 You support my efforts that are worthy and discourage those that are flawed.\u00a0 You keep me appropriately grounded when I\u2019m flying too high, and lift me up when I\u2019m down.\u00a0 And while we certainly don\u2019t agree on everything, we do agree to remain honest and respectful with each other, even when we disagree\u2026 even when we disagree passionately<\/em> (which we sometimes do, and thank goodness for that!).<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>Media \u2013 Mainstream, Social and Anti-Social<\/strong><\/p>\n The advent of email, texting and social media has enabled me to stay in touch with countless individuals with whom I would have otherwise lost touch.\u00a0 In addition, the majority of my friends and acquaintances appreciate being objectively informed, and there are selected segments of social media that enable that.\u00a0 Sadly, I think we are well past the time when we need to take a very serious look at how we communicate with each other.\u00a0 I appreciate spirited debate, as it was foundational to the creation of our country.\u00a0 However, it seems that the vast majority of mainstream and social media (Facebook, twitter, etc.) has devolved into a public platform for people who routinely cross way<\/em> over the line from legitimate, fact- and reason-based reporting and perspective into rhetoric, hyperbole, and ad hominem attack.<\/p>\n How We Treat Each Other Today Foretells Our Tomorrow<\/strong><\/p>\n American citizens certainly have a First Amendment right to say pretty much whatever they please, but that doesn\u2019t mean we have to accept everything someone says as fact, much less allow them to remain while they insult us and our other invited guests, most of whom usually just turn and leave.\u00a0 Permitting this behavior unchecked contributes to the continuing decline of civility within our society.\u00a0 No Boardroom in the country would allow this type of behavior, in fact, no respectful Public Forum should allow this on an ongoing basis.\u00a0 One of the reasons I\u2019m becoming less inclined to comment on Facebook posts is that I do not wish to be figuratively spat upon (privately or otherwise), much less engage in a public spitting match.\u00a0 Someone once said: \u201cOur daily behavior with each other is clear indication of our future together.\u201d\u00a0 The examination of any recent day\u2019s public discourse would suggest that we are in store for a very undesirable future.<\/p>\n Civility benefits from knowledge of, and adherence to known facts, and suffers when those facts are spun<\/em> (regardless of whether they are spun left or right).\u00a0 I believe mainstream media (for their own reasons) does more than enough spin, sometimes with complete disregard of foundational facts, even in the presence of irrefutable evidence.\u00a0 The result is often higher ratings, and always higher emotions, helping to drive the ever-increasing divide between Americans.<\/p>\n The level of self-righteous outrage has clearly gone way off the rails.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never witnessed so many people do so much damage while charging forward absolutely convinced that not only are they “doing the right thing,\u201d but firm in the belief that they, and only they<\/em> know what the right thing is.\u00a0 And\u2026 anyone who disagrees is not only wrong, they are evil!\u00a0 It\u2019s no longer \u201cI\u2019m right and you\u2019re wrong,\u201d it\u2019s \u201cI\u2019m right and you\u2019re a despicable worthless piece of human trash.\u201d\u00a0 Over the past few years I\u2019ve been far more savagely attacked for things that I questioned<\/em> than for anything I ever actually proclaimed <\/em>or did<\/em>.<\/p>\n The Price of Winning<\/strong><\/p>\n This ever-increasing environment of disrespectful narrative does nothing but raise the collective ire, contributing only to the bad taste in one\u2019s mouth.\u00a0 I used to look forward to jumping online, but anymore, being deluged with posturing, lies and rage is not at all how I wish to begin, much less spend my day.\u00a0 A former US Senator recently stated that his promotion of an egregious lie about a political opponent was perfectly fine because it helped contribute to the opponent\u2019s defeat, affirming that victory was more important than honesty or integrity.<\/p>\n Along with honesty and accuracy, civility should be paramount.\u00a0 Anything less devalues all manner of respect, including self-respect.\u00a0 As such, we really need to decide if winning in the public discourse at any cost is worth it or not.\u00a0 Civility is dying, and if we don\u2019t change our behavior, our Civilization will follow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Civility is dying, and only we can save it. There seems to be less and less formal politeness and courtesy when it comes to public behavior and especially public discussion.\u00a0 If fact, \u201cdiscussion\u201d itself seems to be at an all-time low, replaced with argument, ranting, protest and personal attack. I\u2019m fortunate to associate with a … Continue reading “Civility is Dying, and Only We Can Save It”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cultural-commentary-and-perspective"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kyledwilson.com\/davidwilsonupnorth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kyledwilson.com\/davidwilsonupnorth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kyledwilson.com\/davidwilsonupnorth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kyledwilson.com\/davidwilsonupnorth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kyledwilson.com\/davidwilsonupnorth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kyledwilson.com\/davidwilsonupnorth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1111,"href":"https:\/\/kyledwilson.com\/davidwilsonupnorth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311\/revisions\/1111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kyledwilson.com\/davidwilsonupnorth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kyledwilson.com\/davidwilsonupnorth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kyledwilson.com\/davidwilsonupnorth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}