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FSogol

(45,357 posts)
Wed Jan 23, 2019, 04:16 PM Jan 2019

Is it possible to resurrect civility amid a tsunami of toxicity? This group is trying.

Last edited Wed Jan 23, 2019, 05:09 PM - Edit history (1)

A president slams a table and walks out of a meeting. A longtime congressman consistently makes racist comments. A gubernatorial candidate threatens to stomp on his opponent’s face with golf spikes. Family members no longer speak because of political differences. Twitter fights seem constant. Cable news panels are filled with shouting.

While it might seem that civility has been completely lost in politics and significantly eroded in both public and private life, one organization is trying to push back against the tsunami of toxicity and contention sweeping the country. It’s a development that, according to polls, Americans desperately want.

The National Institute for Civil Discourse is urging Americans to be respectful of one another again. The institute and its new executive director, Keith Allred, are behind an attempt to move elected officials and citizens toward civility at a time when discourse is degrading, with the hope that people will remember how to disagree with one another in good faith.


They're been training people to be more civil and running workshops.

Allred is the former Democratic nominee for Gov of Idaho. Former Senate majority leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) is the co-chair.

More at:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/is-it-possible-to-resurrect-civility-amid-a-tsunami-of-toxicity-this-group-is-trying/2019/01/11/7ccbba7c-15c6-11e9-90a8-136fa44b80ba_story.html?utm_term=.6672e6142617&wpisrc=nl_optimist&wpmm=1
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Cary

(11,746 posts)
3. Too little, too late
Wed Jan 23, 2019, 04:22 PM
Jan 2019

They violated too many norms. The only solution is to crush them. That is the only language they will understand.

guillaumeb

(42,641 posts)
4. And when the toxicity is based on hate and racism,
Wed Jan 23, 2019, 04:22 PM
Jan 2019

and the GOP is the all but official party of hate and racism, we must also recognize that bipartisan co-operation does not mean capitulation to a far right agenda.

Yeehah

(4,524 posts)
6. Not going to happen with the hateful, racist Trump republi-nazis
Wed Jan 23, 2019, 04:23 PM
Jan 2019

Better to try and make friends with rattlesnakes.

Afromania

(2,767 posts)
8. The defenition of their civility is that they get to act like rabid fucking dogs towards us
Wed Jan 23, 2019, 04:49 PM
Jan 2019

without any pushback. They want the Democratic voter to tip cap and "yes mam/no mam" their fucking asses without giving any respect back. We did that shit and look where it got us! There is a REAL REASON why we aren't being civil with them anymore and it's not because somebody cooked up a conspiracy theory.

Maybe if the right didn't feel like it'd their GOD GIVEN RIGHT to treat anybody that doesn't agree with their world view like dogshit. Maybe, just maybe the rest of America would be amicable. If "Americans" want civility they need to tell those motherfuckers on the other side to step back look at the bullshit they are on.

yonder

(9,631 posts)
9. Keith Allred was never governor of Idaho. He was once a Democratic nominee.
Wed Jan 23, 2019, 05:07 PM
Jan 2019

This National Institute for Civil Discourse is an idea whose time is certainly past due and I would like to see it get some traction.

The MSM has been shoveling coal as fast as they can to keep their hellbound train on time and profitable. Their railroad owners/masters demand it. Call me cynical, but I don't see the average conservative having an interest in braking this toxic train ride by increasing dialogue and understanding. They're just happy to be in the first Pullman because they believe they will get to the destination before us.

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