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Op-ed: Incivility crisis of politics is just a symptom of division
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MattB
Oct 28, 2012, 7:04:54 PM10/28/12
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Op-ed: Incivility crisis of politics is just a symptom of division
http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2019534569_cornellclaytonopedxml.html?cmpid=2628
CALLING a young coed a �slut� on the radio is uncivil, as Rush
Limbaugh recently did in disagreeing with Sandra Fluke over
reproductive rights for women. So too is hollering �You lie!� at the
president during his speech, as South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson
did in disagreeing with Obama�s health-care bill. Occupy Wall Street
loudmouths, tea-party crazies, vitriolic campaign ads ... What has
happened to civil discourse in America?
The rude, unruly nature of today�s political debate is a common lament
heard from politicians, pundits and academics alike. The �incivility
crisis,� as it is labeled, is blamed for partisan gridlock and the
failure of our democratic institutions to address the nation�s most
pressing challenges.
I dislike uncivil behavior, and I believe it says more about the louts
who engage in it than those they seek to insult. But before concluding
incivility threatens American democracy, let�s consider how the two
are related.
To begin with, nostalgia for the kinder, gentler politics of the past
is based on myth. Many previous periods in America were far worse than
today. During the election of 1800, the partisan press called John
Adams a �hideous hermaphroditical character� and Thomas Jefferson �a
mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian
squaw.� Opponents called John Quincy Adams a �pimp� during the
election of 1828 and referred to Andrew Jackson as �Andrew Jackass�
(which is how the Democratic Party came to adopt the donkey as its
symbol).
During the run-up to the Civil War, Sen. Preston Brooks of South
Carolina attacked Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, beating him with a
cane on the Senate floor for a speech he gave against the
Kansas-Nebraska Act. President Abraham Lincoln was dehumanized in the
Southern press but also by Copperheads in the North; one Wisconsin
newspaper opined, �Mr. Lincoln is fungus from the corrupt womb of
bigotry and fanaticism,� adding �the man who votes for Lincoln now is
a traitor and murderer.�
During the 1930s, President Franklin Roosevelt was regularly accused
of being �un-American,� a �communist� or worse by opponents of the New
Deal. Father Charles Coughlin, the forerunner to today�s bombastic
radio talk-show hosts, laced his attacks on FDR with anti-Semitic
conspiracy theories.
American politics, the turn-of-the-century fictional character Mr.
Dooley once quipped, �ain�t never been �beanbag.�?�
What can we learn from past periods of incivility? First, incivility
is a symptom, not the cause of political division. Previous periods
were nearly always associated with what historians identify as
critical elections or junctures in American democracy; periods that
produced new political parties (the Democratic Party in the 1820s or
the GOP in the 1860s) or major social movements advancing rights of
the oppressed (working-class immigrants during the New Deal or women
and African Americans during the 1960s). Impassioned, angry debate
during such periods reflected deep divisions over the country�s future
and what it meant to be American.
What are the causes of division today? For starters, wealth and income
is more unequally distributed than at any time since 1932. That
growing inequality accompanies a dramatic decline in social mobility.
Americans born in low-income families today are less likely to move up
the social ladder than at any time in the past 50 years, and less able
to do so than counterparts in most other developed democracies around
the world. The growing inequality in American wealth and opportunity
drives bitter debates over taxation, government spending and social
programs.
Changing demographics also cause deep divisions. The percentage of the
foreign-born population in the U.S. has risen from 5 percent in 1970
to nearly 14 percent today, the highest level since the 1930s. And we
are becoming a nation of minorities. Non-Hispanic whites now make up
only 63 percent of the total population in the U.S. and will become a
minority within a few decades. These demographic shifts create
anxieties about the nature of American culture and identity, which in
turn fuel angry debates over immigration, language, religion and other
issues.
..................
Similarly, leaders of the modern civil-rights movement challenged
Southern segregation with lunch-counter sit-ins, boycotts and
violation of state laws. That was uncivil. Other groups lacking power
� labor organizers, Native Americans, gays and others � have faced
similar dilemmas: Either wait patiently for others to press for their
rights within existing frameworks of proper behavior, or seek
democratic reform themselves by challenging those frameworks.
Incivility also can be undemocratic. The Know Nothing Party during the
1850s, the Ku Klux Klan in the early 20th century, Eugene �Bull�
Connor in the 1960s, all used tactics that were uncivil and
undemocratic because they sought to exclude others from participation
in American democracy.
Some forms of behavior are undemocratic by nature: silencing others
through threats, intimidation or acts of violence; delegitimizing
others by casting doubts on their citizenship or rights (i.e. labeling
them �un-American�); or misleading and dishonest debate. These
behaviors threaten democracy more than the occasional insult or angry
outburst because they betray a core democratic responsibility. The
willingness to engage in honest debate and lose on issues you care
deeply aboutreaffirms your commitment to common citizenship.
It would be nice if we could all just get along. Democratic compromise
is more easily achieved when we refrain from insulting and demonizing
those we disagree with.
But American democracy has survived past periods of incivility. It
will survive this, if we remain clear-eyed in addressing the
substantive challenges dividing the country and reaffirm that what
unites us as Americans is stronger than what divides us.
http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2019534569_cornellclaytonopedxml.html?cmpid=2628
CALLING a young coed a �slut� on the radio is uncivil, as Rush
Limbaugh recently did in disagreeing with Sandra Fluke over
reproductive rights for women. So too is hollering �You lie!� at the
president during his speech, as South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson
did in disagreeing with Obama�s health-care bill. Occupy Wall Street
loudmouths, tea-party crazies, vitriolic campaign ads ... What has
happened to civil discourse in America?
The rude, unruly nature of today�s political debate is a common lament
heard from politicians, pundits and academics alike. The �incivility
crisis,� as it is labeled, is blamed for partisan gridlock and the
failure of our democratic institutions to address the nation�s most
pressing challenges.
I dislike uncivil behavior, and I believe it says more about the louts
who engage in it than those they seek to insult. But before concluding
incivility threatens American democracy, let�s consider how the two
are related.
To begin with, nostalgia for the kinder, gentler politics of the past
is based on myth. Many previous periods in America were far worse than
today. During the election of 1800, the partisan press called John
Adams a �hideous hermaphroditical character� and Thomas Jefferson �a
mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian
squaw.� Opponents called John Quincy Adams a �pimp� during the
election of 1828 and referred to Andrew Jackson as �Andrew Jackass�
(which is how the Democratic Party came to adopt the donkey as its
symbol).
During the run-up to the Civil War, Sen. Preston Brooks of South
Carolina attacked Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, beating him with a
cane on the Senate floor for a speech he gave against the
Kansas-Nebraska Act. President Abraham Lincoln was dehumanized in the
Southern press but also by Copperheads in the North; one Wisconsin
newspaper opined, �Mr. Lincoln is fungus from the corrupt womb of
bigotry and fanaticism,� adding �the man who votes for Lincoln now is
a traitor and murderer.�
During the 1930s, President Franklin Roosevelt was regularly accused
of being �un-American,� a �communist� or worse by opponents of the New
Deal. Father Charles Coughlin, the forerunner to today�s bombastic
radio talk-show hosts, laced his attacks on FDR with anti-Semitic
conspiracy theories.
American politics, the turn-of-the-century fictional character Mr.
Dooley once quipped, �ain�t never been �beanbag.�?�
What can we learn from past periods of incivility? First, incivility
is a symptom, not the cause of political division. Previous periods
were nearly always associated with what historians identify as
critical elections or junctures in American democracy; periods that
produced new political parties (the Democratic Party in the 1820s or
the GOP in the 1860s) or major social movements advancing rights of
the oppressed (working-class immigrants during the New Deal or women
and African Americans during the 1960s). Impassioned, angry debate
during such periods reflected deep divisions over the country�s future
and what it meant to be American.
What are the causes of division today? For starters, wealth and income
is more unequally distributed than at any time since 1932. That
growing inequality accompanies a dramatic decline in social mobility.
Americans born in low-income families today are less likely to move up
the social ladder than at any time in the past 50 years, and less able
to do so than counterparts in most other developed democracies around
the world. The growing inequality in American wealth and opportunity
drives bitter debates over taxation, government spending and social
programs.
Changing demographics also cause deep divisions. The percentage of the
foreign-born population in the U.S. has risen from 5 percent in 1970
to nearly 14 percent today, the highest level since the 1930s. And we
are becoming a nation of minorities. Non-Hispanic whites now make up
only 63 percent of the total population in the U.S. and will become a
minority within a few decades. These demographic shifts create
anxieties about the nature of American culture and identity, which in
turn fuel angry debates over immigration, language, religion and other
issues.
..................
Similarly, leaders of the modern civil-rights movement challenged
Southern segregation with lunch-counter sit-ins, boycotts and
violation of state laws. That was uncivil. Other groups lacking power
� labor organizers, Native Americans, gays and others � have faced
similar dilemmas: Either wait patiently for others to press for their
rights within existing frameworks of proper behavior, or seek
democratic reform themselves by challenging those frameworks.
Incivility also can be undemocratic. The Know Nothing Party during the
1850s, the Ku Klux Klan in the early 20th century, Eugene �Bull�
Connor in the 1960s, all used tactics that were uncivil and
undemocratic because they sought to exclude others from participation
in American democracy.
Some forms of behavior are undemocratic by nature: silencing others
through threats, intimidation or acts of violence; delegitimizing
others by casting doubts on their citizenship or rights (i.e. labeling
them �un-American�); or misleading and dishonest debate. These
behaviors threaten democracy more than the occasional insult or angry
outburst because they betray a core democratic responsibility. The
willingness to engage in honest debate and lose on issues you care
deeply aboutreaffirms your commitment to common citizenship.
It would be nice if we could all just get along. Democratic compromise
is more easily achieved when we refrain from insulting and demonizing
those we disagree with.
But American democracy has survived past periods of incivility. It
will survive this, if we remain clear-eyed in addressing the
substantive challenges dividing the country and reaffirm that what
unites us as Americans is stronger than what divides us.
Message has been deleted
Eddie Haskell
Oct 29, 2012, 12:00:25 PM10/29/12
to
"MattB" <trdell1...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:s7er88dpake2b6pg3...@4ax.com...
> Op-ed: Incivility crisis of politics is just a symptom of division
>
> http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2019534569_cornellclaytonopedxml.html?cmpid=2628
>
> CALLING a young coed a "slut" on the radio is uncivil, as Rush
> Limbaugh recently did in disagreeing with Sandra Fluke over
> reproductive rights for women. So too is hollering "You lie!" at the
> president during his speech, as South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson
> did in disagreeing with Obama's health-care bill. Occupy Wall Street
> loudmouths, tea-party crazies, vitriolic campaign ads ... What has
> happened to civil discourse in America?
It died when the democrat party decided to devote themselves to lying and
>
> http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2019534569_cornellclaytonopedxml.html?cmpid=2628
>
> CALLING a young coed a "slut" on the radio is uncivil, as Rush
> Limbaugh recently did in disagreeing with Sandra Fluke over
> reproductive rights for women. So too is hollering "You lie!" at the
> president during his speech, as South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson
> did in disagreeing with Obama's health-care bill. Occupy Wall Street
> loudmouths, tea-party crazies, vitriolic campaign ads ... What has
> happened to civil discourse in America?
smearing with every utterance and breath.
Anymore questions, you sniveling fence riding coward?
Spades are spades and there's not a damn thing you can do about it other
than lie.
-Eddie Haskell
RichTravsky
Oct 30, 2012, 11:34:22 PM10/30/12
to
> > Op-ed: Incivility crisis of politics is just a symptom of division
> >
> > http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2019534569_cornellclaytonopedxml.html?cmpid=2628
> >
> > CALLING a young coed a "slut" on the radio is uncivil, as Rush
> > Limbaugh recently did in disagreeing with Sandra Fluke over
> > reproductive rights for women. So too is hollering "You lie!" at the
> > president during his speech, as South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson
> > did in disagreeing with Obama's health-care bill. Occupy Wall Street
> > loudmouths, tea-party crazies, vitriolic campaign ads ... What has
> > happened to civil discourse in America?
>
> It died when the democrat party decided to devote themselves to lying and
> smearing with every utterance and breath.
It died when republiCONs - like you spewed hate with every thought word
> >
> > http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2019534569_cornellclaytonopedxml.html?cmpid=2628
> >
> > CALLING a young coed a "slut" on the radio is uncivil, as Rush
> > Limbaugh recently did in disagreeing with Sandra Fluke over
> > reproductive rights for women. So too is hollering "You lie!" at the
> > president during his speech, as South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson
> > did in disagreeing with Obama's health-care bill. Occupy Wall Street
> > loudmouths, tea-party crazies, vitriolic campaign ads ... What has
> > happened to civil discourse in America?
>
> It died when the democrat party decided to devote themselves to lying and
> smearing with every utterance and breath.
and deed.
> Anymore questions, you sniveling fence riding coward?
>
> Spades are spades and there's not a damn thing you can do about it other
> than lie.
>
> -Eddie Haskell
Boy, you walked into that one.
RT
Hell Stomper
Oct 30, 2012, 11:39:36 PM10/30/12
to
On Oct 30, 11:34 pm, RichTravsky <traRvEskyM...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Mike Flannigan wrote:
>
> > "MattB" <trdell1234N...@gmail.com> wrote in message
elections, etc, etc...
> Mike Flannigan wrote:
>
> > "MattB" <trdell1234N...@gmail.com> wrote in message
> > > Op-ed: Incivility crisis of politics is just a symptom of division
>
> > >http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2019534569_cornellclaytonopedxml...
>
>
> > > CALLING a young coed a "slut" on the radio is uncivil, as Rush
> > > Limbaugh recently did in disagreeing with Sandra Fluke over
> > > reproductive rights for women. So too is hollering "You lie!" at the
> > > president during his speech, as South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson
> > > did in disagreeing with Obama's health-care bill. Occupy Wall Street
> > > loudmouths, tea-party crazies, vitriolic campaign ads ... What has
> > > happened to civil discourse in America?
>
> > It died when the democrat party decided to devote themselves to lying and
> > smearing with every utterance and breath.
>
> It died when republiCONs - like you spewed hate with every thought word
> and deed.
>
> > Anymore questions, you sniveling fence riding coward?
>
> > Spades are spades and there's not a damn thing you can do about it other
> > than lie.
>
> > -Eddie Haskell
>
> Case in point...
>
> Boy, you walked into that one.
>
> RT
Accusing Romney of murder, insisting that republicans are stealing
> > > CALLING a young coed a "slut" on the radio is uncivil, as Rush
> > > Limbaugh recently did in disagreeing with Sandra Fluke over
> > > reproductive rights for women. So too is hollering "You lie!" at the
> > > president during his speech, as South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson
> > > did in disagreeing with Obama's health-care bill. Occupy Wall Street
> > > loudmouths, tea-party crazies, vitriolic campaign ads ... What has
> > > happened to civil discourse in America?
>
> > It died when the democrat party decided to devote themselves to lying and
> > smearing with every utterance and breath.
>
> It died when republiCONs - like you spewed hate with every thought word
> and deed.
>
> > Anymore questions, you sniveling fence riding coward?
>
> > Spades are spades and there's not a damn thing you can do about it other
> > than lie.
>
> > -Eddie Haskell
>
> Case in point...
>
> Boy, you walked into that one.
>
> RT
elections, etc, etc...
RichTravsky
Oct 31, 2012, 12:26:40 AM10/31/12
to
Eddie Haskell
Oct 31, 2012, 11:11:09 AM10/31/12
to
"Hell Stomper" <stardu...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:04653fb3-fc95-486b...@p22g2000vby.googlegroups.com...
Oh, yeah. The MSM just swept it under the table. That's why democrats are so
corrupt. They can get away with anything they please. I say Romney should
confront him and make him put up or shut up, then bitch slap him to the
ground and break his glasses.
-Eddie Haskell
Eddie Haskell
Oct 31, 2012, 11:12:23 AM10/31/12
to
"RichTravsky" <traRvE...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:50909C3E...@hotmail.com...
donkey dicks for 10 years.
Your response?
-Eddie Haskell
Eddie Haskell
Oct 31, 2012, 11:15:28 AM10/31/12
to
news:5090A880...@hotmail.com...
Yeah, one of your little Hussein Youth lied and said that Romney gave him
cancer.
Now, sieg heil, you fascist maggot.
-Eddie Haskell
cancer.
Now, sieg heil, you fascist maggot.
-Eddie Haskell
3216 Dead
Oct 31, 2012, 11:31:00 AM10/31/12
to
On Wed, 31 Oct 2012 10:11:09 -0500, Eddie Haskell wrote:
> "Hell Stomper" <stardu...@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:04653fb3-fc95-486b-84f2-
> "Hell Stomper" <stardu...@gmail.com> wrote in message
ad6f24...@p22g2000vby.googlegroups.com...
away.
I think he must be a tax cheat, given how determined he is to hide his
tax records. He certainly can't be standing on principle, because he
don't got none 'a that.
Eddie Haskell
Oct 31, 2012, 11:45:37 AM10/31/12
to
"3216 Dead" <de...@gone.com> wrote in message
news:k6rg7j$gjr$3...@dont-email.me...
racist ass thinks.
"Oh, my, it must be so rough growing up white and male in America."
-2966 Dead, Friday, April 27, 2012 2:20 PM
"Well, he [Zimmerman] just shot and killed a kid for no reason at all."
-2915 Dead, Thursday, March 22, 2012 12:59 PM
"Oh, I think he [Zimmerman] should be convicted of manslaughter."
-2960 Dead, Saturday, April 14, 2012 7:40 PM
-Eddie Haskell
RichTravsky
Nov 3, 2012, 12:35:11 AM11/3/12
to
walked into another one Miguel!
RT
RichTravsky
Nov 3, 2012, 12:36:00 AM11/3/12
to
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