Is Political Civility Dead?

Posted July 11, 2016

The 2016 presidential election is four months away. The candidates are not holding anything back, and neither are their supporters. A quick analysis of just about any political news story reveals name-calling, shouting, and accusations of too much “political correctness.” What does this say about today’s political climate? 

“Like many people, I am dismayed by the quality of the political discourse in the current debate,” said Carol Colatrella, professor and associate dean for graduate studies, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. “I think that, many times, the candidates fall into the trap of wanting to express passion, enthusiasm, and fervor, and they do so in a way that really crosses a line in terms of being respectful of human values and political rights.”  

Colatrella said that name-calling or personal attacks on someone’s appearance do not add value. “We should be debating ideas, plans, and expertise,” she said. 

Brian Larson, assistant professor, School of Literature, Media, and Communication, elaborated on the concept of respect.

“There is an extent to which we all owe each other respect,” Larson said. “When I say civility is an obligation or duty, I mean it is an ethical one, and arguably a moral one,” Larson said. “The obligation comes not from the law, but from our ethical and moral systems.”

Changes in the Political Landscape  

Colatrella said standards of common decorum have changed, but they’re always changing in culture, and they’re often linked to political issues. When teaching, she encourages students to express their ideas, but she asks them to be respectful of their classmates.

“If people have provocative ideas, that’s fine,” she said. “But there needs to be a certain sense of courtesy in listening to people and not just shutting people down. The term ‘politically correct’ is often flung at the Left as if liberals are imposing a straitjacket on speech or ideas [when they disagree with conservatives].” 

Another change is that many minority groups now feel empowered to speak up when they feel offended. 

“At different times and in different places, marginalized groups have had a very difficult time speaking out and have been repressed in certain ways, depending on the particular political system they were living under,” Colatrella said. “But, recently, we have seen previously marginalized people feel compelled to become involved in the political system.”  

As an example, she cited recent elections in Ferguson, Missouri, where African-Americans — who make up a large part of the city’s population — became politically active and elected other African-Americans to office.

Larson said that as a group becomes more active, it is more likely to demand respect from the rest of society. He said it is a matter of respect not to refer to groups of people by terms that they consider denigrating or offensive. 

“The easy example is that you don’t refer to African-Americans using the n-word,” he said. “You also don’t refer to them as Negroes or colored, in the contemporary context. Women are entitled to say, ‘I don’t like being called a ‘girl’ at the office.’ Those are just things that — if you are informed and are awake to modern culture — you know you shouldn’t do because you know it’s not respectful.” 

Larson said that for everyone, it is cognitive work to remember how to say and do things. 

“If you grew up with a lot of habits, such as using certain terms [to describe others] that are now considered not respectful by other groups, then you’ve got more work ahead of you. And that takes effort,” he said, adding that people don’t like having to put forth that effort. 

“Everybody likes things to be easy; that’s how our brains are designed,” he said. 

Larson said that, looking at the current culture, one can feel as if there is both more respect and less respect. Because people are more conscious of groups asking others to use respectful terminology, people are more likely to notice more instances when respectful terminology is not used.

“That doesn’t mean our civility is decreasing; it may be going up,” he said. “It’s just becoming more noticeable when it doesn’t happen.” 

Larson said there is a continuum of what is considered good behavior and bad behavior, and people have to be more patient about the things that are less clear. But that doesn’t mean that the responsibility to remain civil goes away.  

How to Address Challenges

One particular challenge facing those who want to be civil is keeping up with the evolving language that groups use to identify themselves.

“Occasionally, you will find members of a group who are somewhat militant about the issue [of new terminology], and they will expect others to adopt new terms quickly,” said Larson. “One way to address that is to say that we have to be a little patient with the rest of the community, and give them the benefit of the doubt until we know that they have been told what term to use. And, also give them the benefit of the doubt that they won’t necessarily remember the new term the first or second time they hear it,” he said. 

Another challenge is how to disagree with someone or let them know they are using a term that is not appropriate — without shaming that person. 

“It’s almost a style issue, a taste issue, a courtesy issue,” said Colatrella, who watches the television show Real Time with Bill Maher. “He often says things I don’t agree with. Sometimes he says things I agree with very much. But in those debates, he tries really hard to be respectful of letting people speak. He counters them, but he never just shuts somebody down by making an ad hoc criticism or by trying to censor someone’s particular vocabulary.” 

In the end, it all comes back to respect, according to Larson, who suggests that people should refer to the various groups and communities by the terms they prefer to be called. 

“If you don’t want to refer to people by respectful terms, then you don’t want to be civil,” he said. “That’s not political correctness.”

Originally appeared in The Whistle