Toward A More Civil (Less Barbaric) Society

Civility is the glue that allows people to live together peacefully, especially in big, diverse nations. Canadians are usually civil. Many Americans try to be civil, but we do seem to have alot of horrific role models.

Jeffrey Feldman has written a book called Outright Barbarous: How the Violent Language of the Right Poisons American Democracy. Feldman also has a blog called Frameshop, which deconstructs the way the American right uses language. In his book, he dissects the mass of hateful spew into seven specific types of us and them rhetoric. For each of the seven bad ways to talk and act, he uses a conservative talking head as an example.

Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association has a vision of the world in which a "command-obedience" relationship exists between the governors and the governed and the use of force is dispensed under the authority of the governors. People are silenced in the presence of arms.

Pat Buchanan leads the charge against immigrants, which he sees an a Mexican invasion of America as revenge for our defeating them 160 years ago at Santa Anna. This framing aids corporate conservatives as it takes the focus off their takeover of immigration policy and instead, blames the immigrants.

Ann Coulter justifies violence against the target of her choice. Liberals are traitors who need to be eliminated because of their collaboration with Al Quaida. She is the ultimate "my way or the highway" advocate and thus closes off any discourse.

Bill O'Reilly blusters so that there is no way to talk about national security or other issues. John Gibson assaults the idea of diversity with his "War on Christmas," and James Dobson extends ideas about child discipline and family authority to the greater society. Dinesh D'Souza blames liberals for all the wrongs of the world, from 9/11 to the war itself.

Collectively, the right wing pundits have almost destroyed the concept of civility.

Discussing the same article, Sara Robinson says:

Somehow, we need to find our way back to each other. And, as simple as it sounds, it may start with a determined resolution that we are going to be civil to each other. Always. Even to your obnoxious Dittohead neighbor. Even to your annoying fundamentalist sister-in-law. Even to that jerk with the faded W'04 bumper sticker who stole your parking space. Even to the whinging concern troll in the comments thread. Catharsis feels like a birthright in our I-want-it-now society; but it's a luxury that progressives can no longer afford. Every time we give into it, the culture splits a little wider, and our odds of ever healing again it grow a bit more remote. It's time for progressives to step up and show the rest of the country how grownups behave. We've got an example to set, and a hundred million people to educate.

If we want to rebuild the country, we need to remember that we are all heirs to the same vast trust of social, political, and physical capital built up by previous generations; that our livelihood and liberties depend entirely on how well we can manage to sustain that common legacy; and that we share a duty to ensure our children's future by passing all of that on to them, not only intact but richer yet.

Our Democratic primaries have been an exercise in how NOT to conduct ourselves civilly, though it is pretty easy to analyze which candidate(s) took the higher road. Negativity has been said to be more powerful than positivity in political contests, but given our record, we need to try a new model.