Tuesday 6 November 2012

What is Civility?

In my opinion, civility means actions and words that embrace politeness, reasonableness, respect and courtesy. It reflects conduct in the way in which people relate to each other, be it in workplaces, schools, political events or social gatherings. It encompasses behavior between persons, which conforms to the social mode and cultural values that are in tandem with the civil society, as though, it is a fundamental principle of society and law (Reagle, 2010).

Therefore, it is a behavior or mode of conduct that respects other people's rights and human dignity. Civility is, however, diminishing at an alarming rate. This state of affairs is largely attributable to the substantial difference in views or opinions. It is also caused by differences in passion, for example, in sports, whereby fans of opposing clubs hate each other based on the variations in their loyal allegiance.In politics, civility also seems to diminish. Differences in ideas have made opinion leaders shout at each other. Some hurl insults at their opponents and get engaged in many other acts of disrespect. At schools, teachers, too, can differ on how to handle certain aspects leading to the unfortunate emergency of incivility or diminishing civility. Some avoid each other, make ill-motivated accusations against others, and others get involved in acts of impropriety. Despite the prevailing state of civility, everyone should understand that differences in opinions or ideas are inevitable in whatever setting. All should learn to present their views in a manner that shows mutual respect to other parties and tolerate, accommodate and live with other people's views in order to build a harmonious society that embraces sobriety, humility and dignity of others as equal citizens of the world. Academics and cultural observers have long decried the rise of incivility, particularly as it affects public discourse. Democracy, they fear, is losing its once great potential to the vulgar, mean, and indifferent.

Since the 1960s, critics spanning the liberal to conservative political spectrum have voiced concerns about the health of civility in Western democracies. Typical of the criticisms is Jean Bethke Elshtain's argument that people have become more aware of a "deepening emptiness" to public life, "a kind of evacuation of civic spaces."This anxiety is heightened by a number of very real social changes in both Western Europe and the United States. The end of the Cold War, shifting immigration patterns, expanding corporatism, easy credit, the internet, aging populations, and technological convenience are just a few of the changes which have affected political and social life in the West for the last 25 years.

Go back 45 years and the situation proves even more complicated. In the United States, desegregation, "white flight" to the suburbs, birth control, illegal drugs, rising divorce rates, Roe v. Wade, and the emergence of the religious right generated a cacophony of interest groups competing to be heard in the public square. This competition has led to heated debates over the implications of pluralism for democratic conceptions of nationhood and citizenship. Sociologist James Davison Hunter famously labeled these intense debates as part of a broader "culture war" encompassing abortion rights, school prayer, affirmative action, and, in general, the identity politics of gender, class, religion, race, and sexual orientation.

Reference Reagle, J. (2010). Good Faith Collaboration: The Culture of Wikipedia. USA: MIT Press.

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Source: http://articles.submityourarticle.com/what-is-civility--301593

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