Is it important for public discourse to be civil?

Question

in my opinion, it's important but i don't have any reason.. i just feel like it's right.

so.. why or why not ?

and, what examples and factors are involved in your view?

Answer 1

Geez,, WAY over my head!

Answer 2

I believe so. For a quick discussion, I recommend you go to this web site:

http://www.colorado.edu/conflict/civilit...

There is an article there titled:

The Meaning of Civility

by Guy Burgess, Ph.D. and Heidi Burgess, Ph.D.

Co-Directors, Conflict Research Consortium, University of Colorado

People are becoming frustrated with the way public debate occurs these days - it is not civil and it is getting us no where. An excellent example is the actions of the US House of Representative Democrats  after coming to power in the last mid-term elections. Nancy P. and her party tried to run rough-shod over Republicans and the President because they thought they had a mandate from the people to make sweeping change. They may have, but, they didn't have the necessary votes to pass their legislation on their own. Rather than trying to debate the issues in a civil manner, they introduced bill after bill that failed to pass in either the House, the Senate, or was vetoed by the President when it got to the executive branch. Their failure to enter in to civil debate with Republican members of Congress and the White House doomed the vast majority of their legislation to fail. I don't think they passed any of their intended bills in the first 100 days; like they said they would. Also, you see on tv fairly regularly now where there are actual physical fights breaking out in legislative chambers in several Asian countries. Bottom line, if public doscourse is not civil, negative forms of confilict esclate and little useful legislation is accomplished.