The Death of Civility

A

Aragon-Draco

Guest
Original poster
Before I begin, I must admit. I have fallen prey to this tendency, but I regretted it after. So, now, here's the thing: I've noticed that there has been a steady decline in the art of decency and civility. For a nation that values civil rights, and self determination, we, as Americans (and I have no doubt other countries are involved as well), have lost the ability to be civil.

As I see it, our desire to get what we want, when we want it, has lead to a constant negative outlook, that comes across in our interactions with everyone around us.

Now, I ask: What do you think? How important is civility to you? Or do you not consider it to be important? I want opinions.
 
I believe the "steady decline" you've noticed is really just a result of getting older, maturing and noticing more about the world. :/

Like I said in the cbox: Back in the oldie days people were far too busy working trying to survive life or getting involved in huge wars. They didn't have time to fine tune the art of dickery. XD

In your modern day, people have so much time on their hands that they're able to do and say things they never would have even had time to accomplish before. All of this freedom of time leads to varying degrees of results... D: From wonderful contributions to some of the actual worst.


Also might have something to do with the problem of overpopulation by a huge amount of stupid people that should never breed. XD They only pass on the stupid asshole genes and create more madness.
 
Civility is very important to me. However, everybody is uncivil at one time or another. It's how you ammend the situation that matters. Nobody is perfect and people make mistakes. I respect those who can admit that they were wrong and apologize. I see what you're saying though. You do see a lot of hate on the news and in the papers. There is nothing you can do about all of America, but we can each do something about ourselves. If each person tried to be a little more civil to each other and a little less hateful it may not change the world, but it will change the lives of the people around them and themselves. I suppose that's all we can "hope" for.
 
I believe that this is more of a nostalgia filter at work than anything else. Older times included such things as sending jews fleeing the holocaust back to Nazi Germany, with knowledge that they would not survive. Not to mention lynchings!

And standard operating procedure during debates in the roman and greek governments included calling your opponent a bastard. Insulting their sexuality was pretty darn common, too.
 
I agree there seems to be little civility today, although I would question whether it hasn't always been there. I think that part of the reason there seems to be a lack of it is (at least partly) due to the proliferation of the internet. People can say anything to anybody behind an anonymous Screen Name and fear no reprisal (usually).

I also feel like people tend to promote a mentality of "Us vs Them". People forget that just because you disagree with someone doesn't mean you have to hate them, and vice versa.
 
Actually watched a show about this once.

Yes it can be argued that people are not as civilized as they could be, but it isn't as bad as it can be made out to be either.

People don't generally spit on you as the walk down the street for example.

We may be able to hit on some things that are uncivilized, but we also need to look at what people do that is civilized. Don't take either side for granted.
 
*Note: I’ve used a lot of generalizations, focusing on whole. This does not include every individual or every circumstance, and I apologize for squeezing everyone into a little paragraph.

It’s a valid subject to discuss. I agree with what has been written so far, but it’s not just that, I don’t think. The values that Americans have been nurtured with have lead to “the decline of civility” as you call it. Our traditional American ideals focus on the individual, the self and the ego; the idea that “I” am first. With each new concept, though, there are positive and negative consequences. A benefit was democracy, and yes, that has its flaws too, but it was step of giving the individual a sense of personal responsibility, a sense of authority as a greater whole. The obvious negative is the topic that we’re discussing now: the lack of courtesy.

Courtesy, civility, manners – whatever – is important. At least to me. It’s a piece of the foundation to respect and kindness, which something that has lost its “rewarding” aspect for a lot people because there’s no give and take. Not that that is a proper excuse, but it’s a reason. Anyway, I’m not quite sure how to end this thing; I just sort of blathered on. I might add to it later.
 
Don't use the internet as research for this discussion. Derp.
 
LOL @ Torsty. Unfortunately, while the internet is a small part of my day, it did not influence this particular topic.
 
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The above song is mostly about a man and woman's relationship, but the video displays animals fighting and stuff... Sort of compares to my view on society. [And Republicans vs. Democrats, lolol] It's also just fact. Although we're intelligent enough to be civil, we're still a species of animal that shares a food chain with other animals. Therefore, it's in our nature to... Well... Be uncivilized. I believe it's normal. However, there comes a point where how we behave is pretty much a crime.

You're right though, Aragon. Things have gotten a lot less sane over the years and I fear things will only get worse. c__c Unless we shape up, the world's going to be a zoo of psychos. While that is so, things could be worse. Homosexuality is punishable by death in some countries, you know? And women are still treated like tools in some places.

...haha, it's 12:30 PM and I'm super sick. xD I'm going to shaddup now.