Why should we care about civility?
Because, when we incorporate formal politeness and courtesy in our behavior and speech while treating each other with respect, even when we disagree, will encourage communication. And by using polite remarks in a formal conversation, we can promote civility.
In the context of our democratic and civil debate, civility is about how people treat each other. Civility involves the display of respect for those who have positions with which one disagrees.
Even though disagreement plays a necessary role in governance and politics, the issue is how that disagreement is translated to one another while still remaining passionate. We should be concerned about expressing our opposite opinions with the tone of civility in our meetings, tweets, Facebook pages, etc… The demeanor, in which we treat our teachers, coaches, referees, policemen, firefighters, and government workers or the coffee shop barista, grocery cashier, mechanic, etc…, echoes through society. A negative tone can overflow into society at large and all these people are somebody’s brothers and sisters, sons, and daughters.
We should always have discussions about important community issues. But they should not degenerate into personal attacks.
When we are competing for the set of “right values” as manifested by the person expressing them then we should be able to have a value of a free expression. With this value of free expression comes a value of respect for fellow participants in the democratic process.
The erosion of civility in society has been attributed to the elevation of self-expression over self-control. This ethical dilemma can be resolved insofar as it is possible to be both expressive and civil and therefore we are able to maximize both values.
When civility is used it is most clear that more people will be more inclined to engage in the public and private deliberative process that focuses on the merits and demerits of an issue; as opposed to focusing on personal attacks.
Disagreement and confrontation play a key role in politics but the issue here is how that disagreement is expressed. The key is to focus on the strengths and weaknesses of the facts presented and not to engage in personal attacks against those who favor different solutions.
The current data seem to demonstrate that our public officials’ incivility and the destructive way in which issues are being addressed has largely contributed to the alienation and antipathy toward one another.
