Thursday, June 26, 2003
Civility defines a Citizen
Orson Scott Card has a hell of a point here. [He has several others which recommend reading the whole article - but, for the moment, I confine myself.]
He describes a casual encounter with someone where a disagreement between them is discovered.
Then she picked up a phone and made a call, rudely turning her back on me. I was, apparently, no longer worthy of serious attention.
Her rudeness, of course, was entirely understandable -- the politically correct are above the rules of ordinary civility, once they have identified you as an unbeliever in their religion.
That sentence describes perfectly the reason behind the decline -- hell, disappearance of **civil discourse in our society. It is my impression from reading history that the custom of calling one's opponent a "thundering buffoon" is an ancient and honored one. But at least it was occasionally prefaced by "My dear sir..." The form of manners and etiquette contained a great deal of vitriol and reminded participants of the need to return to the table and at least look like one was listening. That is what the form is for; to contain the icky bits and help us focus our attention on the task at hand. That is what a citizen does; participates in the formation of a society/culture/civilization. These words are related.
If the social mores have devolved to the point where one is, "of course, understandabl[y]" going to consider himself to be "above the rules of ordinary civility," -- we're sunk. As a democracy. As a society. As a civilized place in the history of Man.
** Civil [Middle English, from Latin cvlis, from cvis, citizen ; see civic.] has more than one meaning:
Of, relating to, or befitting a citizen or citizens: civil duties.
Sufficiently observing or befitting accepted social usages; not rude: a civil reply. See Synonyms at polite.
ThanQ! to Mr. Card, Kate, Kelley, and Ian (and so on back thru the mists of boggy linkage...)
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