Whatever happened to common civility? I remember as a child my parents working hard to make sure I had good manners. Adult men did not even swear in the presence of women and children. Using bad language or being intentionally rude could get your mouth washed out with soap.
Today the anonymity people enjoy on the Internet and the political climate in this country seems to have convinced people that civility is no longer a necessary part of any adult's normal personality. It's no longer enough to disagree with someone and explain why. You have to call him or her stupid names and insult their opinions, etc. It's not enough that we formulate stupid names for groups whose philosophies we disagree with, now we have to do it with people as well.
It doesn't make a person look educated, intelligent, informed, or incisive and powerful when they look down their nose at someone else and then express their contempt in rude and derisive terms. More importantly, it doesn't foster a climate in which a genuine exchange of ideas, a sharing of philosophies, compromise, and perhaps better understanding can take place. For that matter, when did the word compromise become a dirty word?
Somewhere along the line we seem to have lost the ability to view those with whom we disagree as fellow human beings who have ideas that don't conform to ours. We see them as the enemy, as stupid, etc. and because they don't agree with us, we ourselves become the very type of person we most abhor in others. We hate people who disagree with us politically and wish them ill or even dead rather than recognizing they simply see things differently. This particularly alarms me because all you have to do is look at militant Islam and the Middle East to see what happens to people when they lose the ability to view people with whom they differ as fellow human beings. Or step closer to home and look at how some people treat gays in public.
I've been watching this trend grow over the years. It's change for certain, but I'm not sure feeling free to call someone stupid, an idiot, etc. is really a step forward.
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2 comments:
Why, you tree-hugging, bleeding-heart, Anti-American, Moonbat Libtard!
How DARE you insult the civility and integrity and just-all-around-wonderfulness of the political pundits?
I do seem to notice that while a great many Democrats and Liberals are able to mantain civil and intelligent discourse without resorting to vulgarity or rudeness, the majority of the invective and name-calling comes from frustrated 25%'ers who can't counter the arguments (as there IS no justification for most of their beliefs), and so resort to attempted schoolyard bullying type intimidation.
It's sad, really. I remember once when the Republican party was full of true conservatives and folks with some intelligence.
Geez, I like to swear and call people idiots. Especially bible packing right wing Republicans.
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