Civility Trolls
mikethemadbiologist | January 17, 2011Reading the prepared text of Obama's speech at the Tucson Memorial Thursday night, there was one part I really liked:
And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let's remember that it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy, but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation, in a way that would make them proud.
I would prioritize honesty--that is, speaking with words that have meaning and are not simply utterances designed to manipulate--…
mikethemadbiologist | January 10, 2011We're now seeing all of the civility trolls coming out of the woodwork. If by civility, one means "not engaging in violent eliminationist rhetoric", well, then I'm all for it. But what I'm concerned about is that honest criticism will be silenced. While I'm not as sanguine about political rhetoric as, let's say, Jack Shafer, the fact is a lot of people in political life are habitually...counterfactual. That is, they're liars. Others are ideologically blinkered, while yet others, sadly, are either just kinda dim or else stone-cold ignorant.
We do ourselves a disservice when we treat these…