Civil Discourse in Decline: Where Does It End?
The shift away from politeness, decorum and respect is real—and its consequences visible every day
Republican congressional candidate body slams a reporter. A Democratic party state chairman hurls obscenities at both the president and dissidents in his own party at a public meeting.
Speakers are chased off college campuses by those who disagree with them. Lawmakers in both parties find they can barely hold town hall meetings in their own districts because they are so likely to be shouted down by hecklers. Social media has become a forum where insults are the norm and outright threats not uncommon.
Such is the state of (un)civil discourse in America today.
.. Athletes ostentatiously celebrate their achievements—even the most routine ones—by mocking their opponents. It used to be called bad sportsmanship. It’s now normal.
.. President Donald Trump has to shoulder a lot of the blame. He ran a campaign in which publicly insulting his opponents—“Lyin’ Ted Cruz” and “Crooked Hillary”—was a regular occurrence. He introduced obscenities to public rallies, at one point saying he would bomb the “s— out of” Islamic State.
.. But now it isn’t just Mr. Trump. In their new “resistance” mode, Democrats have become just as nasty.
.. “I’m told by politicians that it doesn’t help you to be civil. You want to appeal to your base and to fire them up and all that. I understand that. But at some point, some leaders are going to have to rise above and show us a different way and call us on these things.”