Another Kind of Climate Change
March 05, 2020
What has happened to common decency? I am asked this question repeatedly when people learn I have written a book on civility.
The anguish in their voices tells me they are disappointed and disturbed by incivilities they experience as personal— small incidents that disappoint and disgust, what are now being called micro-aggressions.
But inevitably the conversation goes to something larger, something beyond individual indignities: a climate of incivility is settling in, they say.
They point to President Trump’s behavior, in despair over the noxious blurts in his tweets, his lies, name-calling, disregard of facts. Most disconcerting, they say, is how this behavior is settling in as acceptable—a frequent example being how folks at his rallies applaud his vulgarities. He misbehaves, but not to the level of inelectability?
Next comes the nasty snide-ness of the short retorts on social media. Cyberbullying. Language that harasses. Examples from Twitter abound.
Is there a way, they ask, to change this climate of incivility?
Doing so won’t be easy, I say. We’ll need to think big. Here’s a list for starters.
Not so different, after all, from the kind of activism necessary to preserve the health of our planet. In civility’s case, preserving the health of our societal consciousness.
The anguish in their voices tells me they are disappointed and disturbed by incivilities they experience as personal— small incidents that disappoint and disgust, what are now being called micro-aggressions.
But inevitably the conversation goes to something larger, something beyond individual indignities: a climate of incivility is settling in, they say.
They point to President Trump’s behavior, in despair over the noxious blurts in his tweets, his lies, name-calling, disregard of facts. Most disconcerting, they say, is how this behavior is settling in as acceptable—a frequent example being how folks at his rallies applaud his vulgarities. He misbehaves, but not to the level of inelectability?
Next comes the nasty snide-ness of the short retorts on social media. Cyberbullying. Language that harasses. Examples from Twitter abound.
Is there a way, they ask, to change this climate of incivility?
Doing so won’t be easy, I say. We’ll need to think big. Here’s a list for starters.
- Presidential candidates who exude the decency of civility.
- Social justice remedies in party platforms, income inequality foremost among them. Voters who support those platforms.
- Communities that insist on civil discourse in their various business, social, and religious groups as well as their schools.
- A gazillion individuals who recognize the decency of civility as an indispensable human good, who manifest the belief one conversation at a time.
Not so different, after all, from the kind of activism necessary to preserve the health of our planet. In civility’s case, preserving the health of our societal consciousness.