Every year, The Economist puts out an edition offering predictions of the upcoming year. In one of the columns, they predict that there will be a return to civility in 2022.
Things are cyclic, and they are right this will happen at some point. It must be close to a nadir. Possibly younger generations will get turned off by the increasingly common negativity and nastiness. At some point a lack of bipartisanship becomes a great weakness. And the US has perhaps always balanced profanity with prudishness.
But 2022 sounds like wishful thinking. When do you think the cycle will return to civility over crassness, if ever?
I guess if EVERYONE is saying “Hail Hydra” (or some real-world equivalent), that kinda counts as civility?
I have not bought this week’s copy of the Economist yet, a spoiler blur would have been appropiate.
And we you will return to civility as soon as one side realizes that the first to give in and plays fair is not a chicken and a loser, gives in, plays fair, loses bigly, then the other party will be magnanimous with its 80% super-majority (in Congress, in the Electoral College, in the Supreme Court, wherever) and graciously give about 5 - 10% back.
I predict this year’s predictions will be as much of a bust as previous years.
Civility? I doubt that’s coming back anytime soon. We’re in the middle of a global plague, and people are turning common sense health precautions into a political fight with a big, bright “Fuck You” attached. Common enemies used to unite us, now for many of our citizens, common sense itself is the enemy.
There will be no return to civility until someone puts a stake through the heart of the Republican Party. Trump probably will eventually, but will the country survive until then?
Civility in an election year in the U.S.?
Humbly and respectfully, I submit that civility and crassness are not opposites. “Crass” implies insensitive and unintelligent, civility politeness and courtesy. There is, it seems to me, a tension between crassness and civility, but one can imagine a stupid, insensitive person still being polite. Perhaps I am wrong, and the favour of a correction would be appreciated
No, you are right. They are not opposites as such. But I’m not sure they need to be.
In the history of the human race we’ve never had anything approaching generalized civility.
The likelihood of a return to even pre-Internet levels of “civilized” discourse is roughly the same as that of my encountering a fluorescent talking raccoon.
*Mrs. J. recently ran into a screaming fox out by the barn, but it didn’t have any predictions for 2022.