Civility on the Ropes

In the span of a few days our country has been witness to several very public displays of uncivil behavior by well known people: South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson interrupting an address to the House of Representative and U.S. Senate by President Obama by the calling commander in chief a liar, tennis superstar Serena Williams yelling profanities at an official who made a call against her during one of her matches at the U.S. Tennis Open, and rap singer Kayne West taking the microphone away from another performer during the middle of her acceptance speech at the MTV Awards program because he thought someone else should have won a particular award. Are these isolated cases that coincidentally happen to occur around the same time or are the actions of these people representative of a larger, negative trend in our country? I am not sure but I am concerned enough to raise the question.

There seems to be an escalation of ugliness in our country. Increased shouting. Increased name calling. Increased threats of violence, and, in some cases, actual violence. None of this is good and none of it is healthy for our society. Why is this happening? What is going on? And what can be done about it? One possible answer might be found in reasons why any of us ever feel a need to shout or lash out. We may feel frustrated. We may feel as if we are not being heard. We may feel as if we are not being appreciated or taken into account by those that wield influence over us. We may feel boxed in with no way out but to huff and puff in ways that are ugly. The result is uncivil behavior fueled by anger and frustration. And sometimes those feelings are expressed in ignorance.

Unfortunately, there is no magic bullet to address this phenomenon. However, following fundamental elements of good communication can help. The key to good communication is to establish an environment in which people do have a chance to feel as if they are talking with others. Granted, this is not always easy to do when one is dealing with masses of people. Nevertheless, it is doable through well thought-out strategic communication. Town hall meetings are a good idea, but only if ground rules are established that requires all who participate to behave respectfully. Making great use of social networking outlets works, too, so long as concerns and questions people raise are addressed in a timely manner. Mainly, people need to have confidence that their best interests are being taken into account by those in positions of authority. There's an old expression that says, "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." The successfully planting of that seed will go a long way toward nullifying uncivil behavior.