Decline of Civility Caused By Moral Decay

James Bailey Brislin
The Carpet City Chronicle

The Enfield Press, May 29, 2008

“There can be no high civility without a deep morality.“
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Civility costs nothing and buys everything.“
-Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

The past decade been marked by an accelerated decline in the civility of political discourse.

I was recently reminded of this during a conversation with my father. Speaking in reference to a black and white political movie from the 1950’s, he commented, “That was back when the Senators actually looked and acted like Senators… when they made principled compromises and put the national good ahead of petty interests.”

That statement gave me pause. After all, I came of age during the impeachment of former President Clinton. Political gridlock, extreme partisanship, and parochialism are all things that I took for granted. My father’s statement recalled that these were relatively recent phenomena.

What exactly is civility, and how does it apply to political discussion? Civility is the active practice of civic virtue. It is not a code of behavior, but instead involves the possession of a virtuous disposition. At the heart of civility lies a spirit of perfect charity, which is applied to the consideration of political issues.

Perhaps the best barometer of civility is to ask, “Are we criticizing a politician’s positions and public acts or are we criticizing him for who he is as a person? Personal attacks and criticisms are generally unchristian and almost invariably descend to the level of incivility.

Although the decline of civility is most apparent at the national level, it has also impacted state and municipal politics.

Connecticut residents were exposed to this during the 2006 Senate campaign. Supporters of Ned Lamont displayed a level of bitterness and vituperation foreign to Nutmeg State politics. Ultimately, Lamont’s use of negative personal attacks actually backfired and contributed to a humiliating loss at the hands of Senator Lieberman.

At the local level, incivility shows up on the comment boards of local newspapers. The Journal Inquirer and Hartford Courant’s online comment boards have become a haven for defamation of every flavor.

The discussion boards are provided to give readers a forum to discuss issues addressed in an article. Unfortunately, people can instantly post messages under untraceable pseudonyms. Some people have used this as an opportunity to circulate messages containing false, incendiary, and defamatory content.

Well-moderated discussions can be the source of insightful comment. However, many local blogs do a better job at moderating content than The Courant and The Journal Inquirer. Often the JI and Courant moderators remove defamatory comments days after they have been posted, long after damage has been done.

Recently, I found myself on the receiving end of defamatory comments made on the Courant and JI comment boards. I had been participating in discussions of local political issues, in this case the municipal budget, and was posting under my own name. (My mother taught me that a gentleman signs his name to what he writes.)

One participant launched a personal attack that went so far as to suggest that I don’t own my own laptop. The comments clearly indicated that my antagonist was involved in local political circles and acquainted with my father. Some people would be dispirited by personal attacks of this sort. I view them as a sign of victory. Those who cannot handle the issues resort to personal attacks.

This issue is echoed by recent comments to the Board of Education about bullying in the schools. According to the principals of the high school and middle school, bullying has come to involve the extensive use of technology. Kids will harass each other by leaving threatening messages on their classmates’ cellphones and MySpace pages. Shenanigans on newspaper message boards remind us that adults also engage in online bullying. A recent surge in workplace bullying reinforces the fact that bullying is not merely a childhood phenomenon. This shows that bullying is a behavior that kids learn from others, often their own parents.

Ultimately, the decline of civility reflects the moral decay of our culture. Coarseness in the media has helped legitimize behavior that even twenty years ago would have been deemed offensive.

It is important for political leaders to remember that they are setting an appropriate example for the public. Often, good people can have misguided ideas. One can be a political street fighter while remaining civil. The key is to stick to the issues and avoid personal attacks. I encourage Enfield’s political leaders to step back to consider whether they are setting a civil example for the citizens of our town.