Civility Doesn't Sell

Try as I might, I just cannot bring myself to focus my limited time and mental facilities to blogging about politics. I first seriously began paying attention to the machinations of our governing class in 1991, largely because the 1992 presidential cycle represented my first opportunity to vote (I was only 17 in the 1988 cycle). For the last two decades, I've grown up some and learned that many in the political class are nowhere near as honorable as the institution they purport to serve. I am first a fiscal conservative, laced with a strong proclivity toward social conservatism that is yet limited by a streak of libertarian thought. I pledge allegiance to no party, although my leanings are pretty obvious.

The headlines are filled with economic, political and social drama - much of it manufactured to maintain the information industry that has grown exponentially these last 20 years. Buried underneath this noise are real issues, real crises that are lost in the over-the-top outrageous outrage being perpetrated by those both in front and behind the cameras. There are no rules being followed in our national discourse. The age of civility, if there was ever truly such a thing, no longer exists. Extreme language and metaphor is now the norm. Jimmy Hoffa, Jr. calls for an army of union workers to go to war against the Tea Party, and gets a presidential pass for it. A one-time Republican candidate uses a hunting metaphor and gets the party raked over the coals for weeks and is accused of promoting political violence. And they all by and large get a pass from the general public, because among the masses, the rhetoric is just as extreme - just look at any message board, or comments below online articles.

This phenomenon is not limited to politics. You find it in the entertainment industry, major sports, and shockingly even in some religious circles. Fans and participants alike have all been conditioned to accept the use of such extreme rhetoric, and to expect it. Civil and polite discourse is ignored, perhaps because the tone and vocabulary used fails to cut through the cacophony of rage, malice and bile. Sometimes I can only shake my head and wonder. The Vandals aren't at the gate; they are already among us - and I fear that in many cases, they are us.

I'd like to believe that there is hope that we can rescue ourselves from further depravity and baseness. Yet as I look out upon the landscape of our society, with my limited view and even more limited understanding, it is hard to see people lifting themselves out of the mosh pit of rhetorical decadence. The information and entertainment industries have no interest in slowing the trend either, for one obvious reason.

In the 21st century America, civility doesn't sell.