Republican House member suggests 6 steps toward civility
American politics has become increasingly tense, emotional, and menacing, in recent years. Much of this is the result of the well-documented habit of certain highly visible leaders using dehumanizing and violent rhetoric, and the waves of hate-speech that follow from that rhetoric. Much of it is also the result of tens of millions of people getting information primarily from sources that filter out views unlike their own.
Whether that is Fox News, Facebook, or Twitter, limiting your intake of information to self-reinforcing platforms given to heated rhetoric and amateur commentary can limit your real access to information and undermine your ability to exercise sound judgment in debating issues with friends, family, and fellow citizens.
Rep. Dusty Johnson, a Republican from South Dakota, recently published an op-ed in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, calling for civility, and a conscious effort to reduce the tensions that can lead to political violence. Johnson’s piece, republished in the Washington Post, opens with a poignant experience:
A while back, I was welcoming home a National Guard unit that had been overseas. After the ceremony, a sergeant who had been deployed three times, including twice to an active combat zone, thanked me for my service, saying he couldn’t imagine a post so difficult.
I was speechless. When those who have risked their lives in the defense of our country think that political engagement is the tougher duty, we know our politics are too jagged, too mean, too combative.
Johnson is asking Americans of all political viewpoints to reflect on the attempted assassination of Donald Trump and to recognize that political violence threatens the healthy functioning of democracy itself. Democracy needs “thoughtful discourse among engaged citizens, not emotional attacks from enraged partisans,” he writes.
He recommends six actions that can help to make one’s engagement in our civic life more constructive:
Give others the benefit of the doubt: Relationships fail when couples stop seeing the best in each other.
Subscribe to reputable news sources… find two professional news sources, pay for their content and consume it regularly.
Reject whataboutism… No one is perfect, so all good ideas come from flawed people.
Criticize actions and ideas, not people… It is possible to attack weak ideas and improper actions without labeling someone evil, crooked or a traitor.
Amplify constructive views… Support commenters who try to be constructive by using logic rather than bile.
“Don’t let the bastards grind you down”… If the respectful citizens allow negativity to drive them out, the trolls win.