# Economist Predicting Return To Civility in 2022 **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 31, 2021, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economist-predicting-return-to-civility-in-2022/956995 "2021-12-31T17:58:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economist-predicting-return-to-civility-in-2022/956995/1 "2021-12-31T17:58:28Z")
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?** ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economist-predicting-return-to-civility-in-2022/956995/2 "2021-12-31T18:03:12Z")
I guess if _EVERYONE_ is saying “Hail Hydra” (or some real-world equivalent), that _kinda_ counts as civility? ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economist-predicting-return-to-civility-in-2022/956995/3 "2021-12-31T18:06:51Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economist-predicting-return-to-civility-in-2022/956995/4 "2021-12-31T18:45:40Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economist-predicting-return-to-civility-in-2022/956995/5 "2021-12-31T21:54:29Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > But 2022 sounds like wishful thinking. **When do you think the cycle will return to civility over crassness, if ever?** 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? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economist-predicting-return-to-civility-in-2022/956995/6 "2021-12-31T22:03:30Z")
Civility in an election year in the U.S.? ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economist-predicting-return-to-civility-in-2022/956995/7 "2021-12-31T22:13:49Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > When do you think the cycle will return to civility over crassness, if ever? 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 ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economist-predicting-return-to-civility-in-2022/956995/8 "2021-12-31T23:43:27Z")
No, you are right. They are not opposites as such. But I’m not sure they need to be. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economist-predicting-return-to-civility-in-2022/956995/9 "2022-01-02T15:54:32Z")
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. > **[The Man Who Photocopied DNA and Also Saw a Talking Fluorescent Raccoon](https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/technology-history/man-who-photocopied-dna-and-also-saw-talking-fluorescent-raccoon)** > > It may be surprising to learn that the credited inventor of the most important workhorse in molecular biology—the polymerase chain reaction or PCR—once claimed he had seen a talking fluorescent raccoon near his cabin, which may or may not have been... \*Mrs. J. recently ran into a screaming fox out by the barn, but it didn’t have any predictions for 2022.