"Civility requires that we express ourselves in ways that demonstrate our respect for others." –posted at Fire and Knowledge, and originally taken from Stephen Carter's 1998 book called Civility.
I lost interest in political blogs about the same time neoconservatism became cool. The concept of civil discourse in the blogosphere regarding politics seemed to seep back into the crevices of society shortly thereafter and all that remains are two sides that shout at each other. It hurts my ears. It hurts my eyes. And frankly, I've stopped listening.
That's quite ironic for somebody who was part of the shouting for many years up until last summer. I don't necessarily think it's a good thing to stop listening. People lose their freedoms by not listening. Corrupt leaders get elected when people stop listening. And maybe that's what both sides really want. But I still believe change is possible.
Years ago, you were hard pressed to find politicians on the right who seemed to have any concern whatsoever about the environment. You were just as hard pressed to find politicians on the left who understood the need for welfare reform. But today, you'll find politicians who consider themselves to be environmentalists on the right and you'll find politicians who push for fiscal responsibility from government on the left.
How did that happen?
A great conversation about environmentalism took place over on the Grist magazine website in 2004 and included the thoughts of self-described conservatives. I remember hearing similar conversations several years ago from within the conservative movement and they helped to open the ears of people on the right.
In 1996, while President Clinton was in office, 100 Congressional Democrats and 25 Senatorial Democrats voted in favor of welfare reform—which President Clinton later signed into law. I'm not sure how people on the left came to the conclusion that we as a nation needed to reform welfare, but I'd bet that they became convinced after listening to people on the left who saw a problem and were willing to address it.
It seems to me that it takes somebody on the inside of a movement to be courageous enough to question the status quo to get people to listen. We listen to people who are like us. We're more gentle with them—probably because we don't see them as the enemy, but rather someone with just a different point of view.
All of this makes me think that political movements would be better served in the blogosphere if people on the right and left stopped yelling across the aisle at each other and started challenging and examining their own beliefs from within their respective movements.
I'm all for holding strong convictions, but I've also been wrong on enough issues in my life to know that sometimes you need the wound of a faithful friend to help you see the light.
