In an era of political civil wars, an example of possible civility |
An old friend of mine, an academic who typically infuses his scholarly papers about such topics as economics and social trends with the perspective of Torah stories, Torah-based ethics and Torah scholars, challenged me the other day to write an essay about a subject that has increasingly bothered him in recent years – the growing uncivility in our culture. In politics. In religion. In journalism. In …. You get the idea.
This increase in public hostility and decrease in mutual respect is evident in many venues:
The standards of comedy roasts, where the benign “you only roast those you love” ribbing of A-list celebrities on the decades-old “Dean Martin Celebrity Roast” has given way to profanity-infused verbal assault of often-B-list nonentity comedians and musical artists on Comedy Central.
Political panels on TV, where participants constantly interrupt, contradict, belittle, mock and criticize each other, stepping on each other’s words, clearly making the tacit statement that only my opinions have any truth or worth, you are ill informed and should shut up!
The views of some Black “intellects” and “opinion leaders” that such once-mutually-accepted concepts as polite behavior and willingness to let people freely express their opposing views is a form of racism that permits injustice to continue; i.e., debate is not needed – you are wrong!
Several books in recent years, with such titles as “The Civility Book: A Guide to Building Bridges Across the Political Divide,” and “The Soul of Civility: Timeless Principles to Heal Society and Ourselves” have discussed this depressing phenomenon. Jewish tradition and Jewish history, of course, offer countless examples – going back to Moses, who heeded the advice of his father-in-law Jethro about delegating the duty to sit in judgment over the nation of freed Israelite slaves – of how to maintain one’s standards and beliefs without denigrating an individual who holds........