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It may not be the end of civilization (yet), but it seems we may have turned the corner on the end of civility… and so the latter cannot be a good sign for the former.
Behavioral scientists sometimes speak of different levels of human development and consciousness. For instance, ‘warrior’ consciousness expresses itself in terms of “the world is a jungle; eat or be eaten; express yourself and to hell with everybody else.” You have to admit those are not particularly admirable traits nor do they lead to admirable ways of interacting with others and the world at large. And yet, even though this level of consciousness is one of the lowest levels of all human interaction, suddenly it feels ubiquitous.
We’ve seen and heard it loudest in our most recent political discourse. The entire healthcare debate has seemingly polarized an entire country already diametrically opposed over its military involvement in both Iraq and Afghanistan. A member of the Republican Party interrupts the president’s speech on the house floor by yelling “liar,” followed by a poll of New Jersey conservatives stating that 18% of respondents believe President Obama is the ‘antichrist’ while another 17% say “they are not sure.”
Our nightly news is not much better. The running feud between FOX and MSNBC personalities (with a little CNN thrown into the mix just for fun) leaves us feeling soiled and even opining for ‘the good ole days’ – you know, when the news was just slanted, biased, sensationalized and all around poorly done!
Hang out on Facebook or other social networking sites and you’ll find a lack of civility in abundance there as well. The unholy trinity of such incivility, otherwise known as ‘scapegoating, demonization and conspiracy theories,’ abounds.
My suspicion is that what lies at the root of most, if not all of this, has to do with identity. I and others have staked our identity on a plethora of outward ‘forms’: Right/left, Democrat/Republican, Conservative Christian/Liberal Christian, patriot/expatriate, on and on.
And once invested in the demonizing process, it’s hard to exorcise. Once the line has been drawn, it isn’t easy to get everyone to back off, take a breath, clear the deck – and just ask some bottom-line questions like: What is going on in the world? Where is there injustice today? What can be done about poverty and as quickly as possible? How can people without healthcare be assisted without taking advantage of others in the process? What can be done about the poor, the homeless, and the hungry, other than telling them to ‘get a job’ or ‘if you loved Jesus you wouldn’t be in this position’? Why do so many little children suffer needlessly?
Perhaps most of all, what could happen if we left our labels aside long enough to work together apart from politics and other ego-centric institutionalism(s)? What if we saw every person as part of the divine? What if we first sought the presence of God in every eye we met? What if we began to respond to each other as we would respond to the Unnamable (whatever that may be for each of us)?
What would happen, if in all things, we first sought civility?
These are all big questions, I know – some might say impossible ones – sicknesses without a cure; pathologies without hope of reversal. But it doesn’t change the basis of the need to recover some of what so much of has seemingly been lost: Civility.
It may not be too late to find it. And that, it seems, would be a good place to regroup and begin refocusing our efforts on some global ills that simply must be addressed before we reach the point of no return.
11 comments to “The End of Civility”
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Hi Tim, some really god stuff. I am always the opimist. Some years ago [do you remember Rodney King?) I believe it was caught on tape when he was pulled from his car and beaten by LA police, after which folks began to riot and pull folks from their cars and beat them and so on.Rodney King spoke 6 words that for me says it all. He asked this question: CAN’T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG? A simple question but one very complicated question as well, so far at least in my eyes the answer is NO or HELL NO!!. I am wondering why (guys especially) seem HELL bent on converting people in their path to believe what I believe? Maybe the thought goes this way: the moe folks I can get to believe as I do the more justified I feel in believeing what I believe!. For me now who the HELL cares!!. Oh no I used a bad word (3 times) does that mean………Thanks Tim……….I love your blog…….Andy
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I began a journey out the IC five years ago. What I notice now (which I would never have in my “previous life”) is exactly what you say here. I was very conservative as was most of my family. Now, I ascribe to no political group at all. I see the lack of civility so clearly. My family and friends seem to see none at all in the reactions of late. Great post! Grace and love is the answer.
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I agree, Tim. At the root of incivility is an identity issue, the false self run amok. Institutions do it, also, in an effort to preserve a sick identity structure (cf. Scott Peck’s People of the Lie).
How might we discern this dynamism within?
If our discourse turns offensive, or even overly defensive, there’s a good chance we are living out of our false self, at WORK on our own agenda, rather than enjoying our true self, at PLAY in the fields of the Lord.
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Love the thoughts coming out of this blogpost as well as from the comments. I can see a thread that is pretty simple: fear begats fear. Defensiveness brings more of the same into existence. I have noticed the periodic appearance of the “warrior” and the accentuation of that false self over time because people invest much time and effort into that identity and are loathe to part with so many years of work. What I love is that in my own life, the “warrior” identity has yielded a great deal of potential to understand others who are still existing through that identity which I have since given up (for the most part… it still rears its ugly head every now and again).
For me, the antidote is a simple incredibly difficult word to believe: that word is — yes.
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[...] and stale sauce Are we all going nuts, in a world of labels, factions and namecalling? Tim’s Post-Christian Blog surveys the wraths and sorrows of current US Political discourse, as revealed in some of the [...]
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[...] 2. Here are a couple of things that either he shared or that he wrote: a post on creation care and from another blog a post on civility. [...]
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[...] structure, defending it at all costs, most especially at a cost to civility. See Tim King’s The End of Civility. Overcoming this type of approach is what Christian Nonduality is all [...]
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Relevant to your discussion, Tim, folks will find this interesting: An apology from Vox Nova and a new comment policy « Vox Nova http://bit.ly/vS0Ne
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A great read that fleshes this idea of treating one another as people instead of objects is “The Anatomy of Peace”. It’s cousin “Leadership and Self-Deception” is also a great book to start with to get the concept and share it with a friend.
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hello,
Thank you for the great quality of your blog, each time i come here, i’m amazed.
Tim,
I think you’re exactly right to suggest that this is about identity. We’re wrangling over what it means to be American, what it means to live in a Democracy, what it means to be Christian or post-Christian or a follower of Jesus or a bystander, what it means to be Muslim or Buddhist or Jewish or something else, what it means to be human in the world in which we find ourselves. Just what kind of people are we, and who constitutes that “we”? These are tough questions. I can only hope that this present phase of ugliness and uncivility is a stage we must pass through — and if it is, that we do in fact pass through it.