The Lost Art of Civility
Members of Ricochet know that we pride ourselves on hosting civil and intelligent political conversation for folks on the right. And yet, we find the barrage of lectures from the White House and the self-proclaimed word police to be intolerable. How can one take seriously a call to civility from a President who demonizes private citizens and compares Republicans to hostage-takers, or a Vice President who likens the Tea Party to terrorists, or an unhinged liberal punditocracy that loves to call Republicans suicide bombers?
In his Wall Street Journal column today, Ricochet's own Bill McGurn zeroes in on the revolting leftist habit of abusing and misusing vocabulary specifically affiliated with Islamism to denigrate political opponents.
Perhaps it is because the liberal view of religion and Republicans is so reflexively negative that they see no practical difference between those who oppose higher taxes and those who would chop off a woman's fingertips for wearing nail polish. Whatever the reason, liberals continue to do so freely because they know the civility police will never be coming for them.
Let's be clear. If Tina Brown really wants to call Republicans suicide bombers or someone else wants to talk about Mr. Santorum's fatwa, that's their right....
So we don't need the word police. But spare us the sermons on civility.
Since the attack on 9/11, Americans have rightly been reminded how unfair it is to equate the hundreds of millions of decent Muslims with radicals who behead, car bomb and assassinate in the name of Islam. Would that our liberal commentariat could make a similar distinction between a conservative and a terrorist.
Unfortunately, manners and decorum are relics of a bygone era. The Left, which cares nothing for institutions of the past, will always be quick to preach civility for others but will never in a million years allow itself to be encumbered by any code of conduct that poses an obstacle to scoring cheap political points.
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May '10
Re: The Lost Art of Civility
Years ago I located the problem in the liberals' utter misconception of the meaning of "tolerance."
What they don't understand is: if it's easy, it ain't.
Nov '10
Re: The Lost Art of Civility
Let them be rude. Let them be hypocritical. Don't fight back about their crassness. Remember, "we, the people" are wiser than it sometimes seems. Be civilized, by example.
Feb '12
Re: The Lost Art of Civility
Sorta sez it all.. Civility is its own reward. Set by example usually wins the day.
Sep '10
Re: The Lost Art of Civility
Since the time of the Bolsheviks, the Left has regarded the human conscience as a weakness, to be exploited whenever possible. So when they call us terrorists or animals, they say that this is just free speech; but if anyone criticizes them, they say this is offensive (the Left's substitute for wrong). They count on ordinary people to be intimidated by this, because no decent person really wants to offend people.
But the Left enjoys offending people--in fact, they think this is a badge of honor. They love foul language: it's their lingua franca (sorry, Rob). If a work of "art" desecrates a Christian object, so much the better.
I won't stoop to their level, but I've stopped giving leftists the benefit of the doubt in any argument. Andrew Breitbart said it--they're waging war on us. They'll use any propaganda technique that comes to hand--valid argument be damned. So from now on, I refuse to give a millimeter to them in any discussion. They're waging war, and we need to recognize that and act accordingly.
Jul '10
Re: The Lost Art of Civility
Civility arises from respect.The lack of respect shown by one side of the political discourse stems from their view of those who do not hold their opinions as less than enlightened. There is no civility due to a heretic. This view of others as living in darkness comes from the belief that the answers they have are so simple, so obviously right. The way you get people to live together in peace is to take away all their weapons. No one can accomplish anything on their own; the energy of government must be harnessed to aid them. If only you could get people to stop thinking hateful thoughts, then all would be in harmony. All of these reflect a shallow, superficial view of the human condition, of human nature as infinitely malleable. There is a lack of a sense of transcendence, a belief that the person is more than his material being, that pervades their thought. There is no value to the individual, only to the group in abstract. And if you're in the wrong group, you are owed nothing.
Mar '11
Re: The Lost Art of Civility
If "compromise" means "letting them have their way," it follows that "tolerance" is "taking their abuse without complaint or retaliation."
Mar '12
Re: The Lost Art of Civility
When I was a wee little baby conservative who still felt liberal guilt, I started reading comments on right wing blogs and listening to conservative talk shows.
And the first thing that struck me was how darn *nice* conservatives were. A veteran calls in to a RW talk radio show? They get a "thank you for your service, sir." Someone calls into the Michael Medved show? They will say "Mr. Medved..." Conservatives will even tell you you're wrong politely. If a woman calls in, the (male) host will be so darn civil to her it feels like something out of a nineteenth century novel, even if she disagrees with everything he says or is a raving nutter or anything else.
Not being used to it in left-wing discourse, where you will get screamed down for even the most minute deviations from whatever is the current standard of Progressive Progressivism, it confused the heck out of me for a while. I've been a liberal, and I've been a conservative. Conservatives are nicer. AND they treat their wives better.
Aug '10
Re: The Lost Art of Civility
Darn tootin'!
Aug '10
Re: The Lost Art of Civility
In the conclusion to his (very) necessary book, The Case For Civility, Os Guiness writes:"If we wish civility to be a robust and freely chosen virtue, we ourselves must be dedicated to it as a covenant rather than a contract, as a matter of justice as much as power, and as a life-giving habit of the heart rather than a dead and deadening letter of any law......In sum, the responsibility for restoring a civil and cosmopolitan public square does not rest solely with the White House, Capitol Hill, the television network president, the newspaper owner, the company boss, the school principal, or the grassroots activist leader. It begins and ends with us."Teach your children to say "thank you, yes sir, and no ma'am" and at least we will be making a start.
Oct '10
Re: The Lost Art of Civility
dogsbody: Since the time of the Bolsheviks, the Left has regarded the human conscience as a weakness, to be exploited whenever possible. ... They count on ordinary people to be intimidated by this, because no decent person really wants to offend people.
But the Left enjoys offending people--in fact, they think this is a badge of honor. They love foul language: it's their lingua franca ...
I won't stoop to their level, but ... Andrew Breitbart said it--they're waging war on us. They'll use any propaganda technique that comes to hand--valid argument be damned. So from now on, I refuse to give a millimeter to them in any discussion. They're waging war, and we need to recognize that and act accordingly.
So many good insights . . . wrt the last, "act accordingly" means be ready to deploy countervailing force at whatever level of violence---be it rhetorical or physical---that your opponent employs. That's how you deter. If deterrence fails, your readiness is what postures you to prevail. Wars end when one side loses the will to continue, which means they've lost all hope. You have to bring them to that conclusion.
May '10
Re: The Lost Art of Civility
There's an interesting report in Investor's Business Daily that focuses on liberals' on line tolerance. It will come as no surprise that liberals are far less tolerant than either the average person or the conservative person.
Mar '12
Re: The Lost Art of Civility
That's part of it. But when there is no respect, civility arises from shame---or fear of it.
The Left has worked for decades to eliminate shame from their emotional palette. We conservatives still tend to use it as a guiding compass, a moral antennae. But the mere suggestion someone should be ashamed enrages liberals, on everything from government dependence to "getting in your face."
Would a conservative woman go before the nation and proudly proclaim she is having premarital, recreational sex and demand Congress force her Catholic school to not only abide her sexual activities but also fully fund them? No, we'd be too embarrassed.
The Left is further enabled by the media. They have no shame either. When Anderson Cooper uses the slur "teabagger" with impunity, or Soledad O'Brien gangs up on a guest, calling him a white supremacist, they aren't going to call out their fellow shameless. There's no one to hold their incivil feet to the fire.
I suspect they do feel ashamed, though. Ashamed they have no shame, and since shame makes them mad, they're gonna take it out on us.
Mar '12
Re: The Lost Art of Civility
Unfortunately, there is no room for 'civility' in today's political world. By clinging to civility Republicans have traditionally run away from the national conversation & allowed Democrats to cast vile, slanderous untruths that are left unresponded to, therefore allowing the American public to gradually believe the lies that are left unaswered. If we are going to recapture the White House and Congress we need to wade into the debate. That will mean getting our hands dirty. Does that mean we sink to their level? Absolutely not. What it does mean is that we will have to hold the line..take a few bullets..and then give it right back to them. NOT with lies or scorched-earth tactics, but with the truth. We cannot cow if they throw out a word like 'racist' if we disagree with them. We must stand tall, knowing we have the truth as our weapon and hold the line...hold it here and let them gain NO more ground. It won't be easy. War never is. This is definitely a war & if we don't fight, we will lose our precious country.
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We are Breitbart - the TRUTH is our weapon!
May '10
Re: The Lost Art of Civility
"Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules. You can kill them with this. " Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals
It's up to us to make them live up to the "rules" they try to push on conservatives. This is why Axelrod passed on Maher's show tonight. Keep up the pressure.
Edited on March 14, 2012 at 6:53amDec '11
Re: The Lost Art of Civility
Since 2004, I have been increasingly convinced that our defamation laws need solid reform. You can essentially say anything about somebody involved in our national process, with malicious intent to do harm to them, and its called 'fair comment.'
After the unfortunate incident in Mz. Giffords, Mz. Palin was blood libeled (best use of the english language that year), and she got dumped on for pointing it out. Just recently Mr. Gifford's performed an interview upset that Mz. Palin didnt apologize for her part in an unfortunate affair where a mentally disturbed drug addicted liberal shot a woman he had a fixation with.
Silence is consent, and as long as we implicitly consent, we will be slandered in the public square with every type of the worst kinds of ugly.
May '10
Re: The Lost Art of Civility
The other side of this coin is that it trivializes the behavior of the Islamists, and makes it impossible for liberals to muster any genuine moral outrage at their behavior.
Liberals know perfectly well that Rick Santorum is not an Islamist cleric. The accusation of "issuing fatwas" is interchangeable for them with calling him a yahoo, an idiot, not their sort of person. Cognitively, these are all the same thing for them, so when it comes time to decide what to do about the severed fingertips and honor killings, they can't make the necessary distinctions.
This rhetoric is deeply corrosive of judgment. When everyone is Hitler, Hitler's just a guy, you know?
Aug '10
Re: The Lost Art of Civility
Bill, Seriously?
Diane Ellis, Ed.:
"Since the attack on 9/11, Americans have rightly been reminded how unfair it is to equate the hundreds of millions of decent Muslims with radicals who behead, car bomb and assassinate in the name of Islam."
Why pray tell is 'right' that we have been reminded about this unfairness? Were there that many assaults on Muslims as a group that being lectured about 'fairness' is 'right'?
Stop playing into the Left's narrative that Americans are racists / xenophobic - We as a country / culture behaved in no way that required pundits to 'rightly remind' us that it is unfair to tar 'hundreds of millions of decent muslims' with the same brush we use to describe Islamists.
This offends me.
Re: The Lost Art of Civility
Instugator:
Why pray tell is 'right' that we have been reminded about this unfairness?...
Stop playing into the Left's narrative that Americans are racists / xenophobic - We as a country / culture behaved in no way that required pundits to 'rightly remind' us that it is unfair to tar 'hundreds of millions of decent muslims' with the same brush we use to describe Islamists.
Instugator, it's hard to have a constructive conversation when right out of the gate you employ a hostile and pugnacious tone.
You are putting words into Bill's column that just aren't there. His meaning, as I understand it, is plainly that it is imperative to see a distinction between law abiding Muslims on the one hand and militant Islamists on the other just as it is imperative to see a distinction between one's law abiding political opponent and a terrorist.
Jun '10
Re: The Lost Art of Civility
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
Darn tootin'! ยท 15 hours ago
I think conservative males are naturally nicer to their wives, but let us not forget that wives of conservatives (who tend to be conservatives also) have access to guns, and know how to use them.
Edited on March 14, 2012 at 6:34pmApr '11
Re: The Lost Art of Civility
I spent an evening last week reading Robert Sherrill's The Accidental President (1967), having missed it the first time around. It seems to be factually correct: I found only three instances where I believe he's in error, and that might just be conflicting accounts. But man! is he brutal with his opinions. From the preface:
Liberals: uncivil from 'way back.