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If We Lose Civility, We Lose Civilization
We certainly will lose democracy
The spectacle of Members of Congress heckling the President of the United States grieves me. Whatever you may think of President Biden (or Trump or Obama or Bush or Clinton or … keep going), the President of the United States deserves respect for the gravity of his or her office.
But I also am grieved by the increasing lack of civility and manners in state and local government, social media, on college campuses, and in everyday life.
We are less patient with one another, less kind and courteous to each other, and more apt to believe the worst about each other.
You’ll read a lot of articles here on Medium which justify the refusal to be civil or polite based on the views (perceived or actual) of those to whom the rage, hate, and/or vitriol is directed.
Fortunately, my moral compass isn’t set by other writers on Medium, nor is it set by any political party or any philosophical or social justice movement.
The truth is that civility doesn’t go far enough. Civility is ultimately what we fall back on when we need the discipline to overcome our human impulses toward rage and rudeness.
And in politics, civility is what we fall back on to preserve our democracy when the…
