Choosing Civility
Recently, I met with a major media and public
relations icon from New York, who told me he was working
with his alma mater on a lecture series focused around
civility. I mentioned I knew a great treatise on the
subject and afterward sent him a copy of Choosing
Civility: The Twenty-Five Rules of Considerate Conduct
by Pier Massimo Forni, a professor in the Krieger School of
Arts and Sciences. This book is a wonderful short monograph
that I recommend highly to anyone interested in the
subject.
Not long afterward I received a very nice thank-you
note from my New York colleague, who was so delighted with
the book that he said he went out and purchased a number of
copies to give to others. He reminded me that Professor
Forni begins with a wonderful quote from Henry James:
"Three things in human life are important: the first
is to be kind. The second is to be kind, and the third is
to be kind."
I suppose I have been thinking of civility a lot as we
reach the end — we hope — of a particularly
vituperative presidential election. We have been through
weeks of near-constant deafening rhetoric spewed forth by
both presidential candidates, their running mates, their
spokespersons, political spin artists, pundits and so
forth. The shrillness of the political discourse is no
accident: Clearly candidate Kerry, who started with a more
muted message, rose from has-been to contender by
sharpening the edge of his attacks on President Bush. And
the other side has met him in kind, every step of the way.
The public apparently responds more readily to
uncivil, sometimes brutal, often hyperbolic and
occasionally downright false accusations. Thus, the
presidential debates eventually degrade to the prime time
verbal equivalent of a World Wrestling Entertainment Smack
Down. In this atmosphere, is it any surprise that former
pro wrestler Jessie Ventura was elected governor of
Minnesota in 1999 over his highly qualified, well-educated
Republican and Democratic opponents?
Sure, the "sport" of presidential campaigns makes for
good television ratings, but is there anything harmful in
this high-decibel demagoguery? I think so. In much the same
way we are "numbed" by a relentless exposure to violence
through the media, our innate sense of decency, fairness
and truth subtly accommodates itself to ever-increasing
levels of political mendacity. It's not unlike the way our
ears are able to reset their sensitivity in the presence of
a continuous exposure to loud noise.
Our civility quotient in America has been falling
steadily in recent years and has, if anything, begun to
plummet during this campaign season. An aggressive,
winner-take-all, combative sports mentality now seems to
drive behavior in all aspects of our lives — from
oversized, overloud boomboxes to road rage, from verbal
assault to spousal abuse. And perhaps most relevant of all
for the United States at this time is the use of military
force as the favored option over diplomacy.
Given the opportunity, I would encourage all political
candidates to read and follow Professor Forni's rule No. 13
of civil behavior: "Keep it down (and rediscover silence)."
As Les Blomberg memorably put it: "My right to swing my
fist ends at your nose. My right to make noise ought to end
at your ear."
Already, it's too late to get that message across in
2004. Perhaps we'll find a way to do better in 2008. In the
meantime, here is one highly recommended procedure I have
discovered that you might want to try during the next
presidential campaign season: Turn on the television set,
but turn off the volume. It's amazing what you begin to
see.
William R. Brody is president
of The Johns Hopkins University.
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