{"59142":{"#nid":"59142","#data":{"type":"news","title":"\\\u0022Change Through Debate\\\u0022 by Dr. Susan Herbst","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis perspective by Dr. Susan Herbst\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nappeared in Inside Higher Ed, October 5, 2009 \u003C\/em\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EA variety of scholars have weighed in on the current debate about American political civility, noting brutal fights on the floor of Congress in the 19th century, nasty mud-slinging of U.S. presidential campaigns throughout history, and other less than impressive aspects of our cultural past. And of course, they are correct that incivility is nothing new. What makes incivility seem omnipresent is the communication environment of our day: the pressure on our 24\/7 journalists to fill airtime, new venues for citizens to state their opinions -- thoughtful or lunatic -- online, and a culture that encourages unabashed self-expression.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWho thought we would see the day when CNN news anchors would read incoming \u0022Tweets\u0022  from viewers to us in serial fashion, opening an international information channel to faceless, opinionated people with no qualification for broadcasting except time on their hands?\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIt was difficult not to be appalled by the excesses of campaign rally crowds during the 2008 presidential election, the displays at some health care town hall meetings this past summer, and Congressman Joe Wilson\u0027s outburst (\u0022You lie!\u0022). Students of American political history put these events in context, easily, because incivility is manifest in a variety of ways during different eras. But that scholarly response seems a very unsatisfying reaction to the ill-mannered eruptions, name-calling, and sheer meanness that we find on television and our favorite internet sites, now on a regular basis. The incivility is still worrisome, even if historically predictable, and we look for a way to cope with it.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe scholarly literature on trends in civility is mixed in its conclusions, with some arguing for either a bumpy or near-linear increase of incivility in both the United States and Western Europe, others arguing that we are actually more polite now than ever in public, and still others \u0022\u0022 like myself \u0022\u0022 who posit that civility and incivility are both timeless strategic rhetorical weapons. Some people are better at using these tools than others, to achieve their goals, but a macro-historical argument about collective civility is probably a bit of a stretch and difficult to demonstrate empirically, to say the least. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EContinue reading Dr. Herbst\u0027s commentary by clicking the \u0022Related Link\u0022 below \u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"A perspective on American political civility"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"A variety of scholars have weighed in on the current debate about American political civility, noting brutal fights on the floor of Congress in the 19th century, nasty mud-slinging of U.S. presidential campaigns throughout history, and other less than impressive aspects of our cultural past. And of course, they are correct that incivility is nothing new.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"How academic leaders can shape a more civil public debate"}],"uid":"27167","created_gmt":"2009-10-08 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:06:47","author":"Rebecca Keane","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2009-10-08T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2009-10-08T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"59143":{"id":"59143","type":"image","title":"tnm28608.jpg","body":null,"created":"1449176217","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:56:57","changed":"1475894442","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:40:42","alt":"","file":{"fid":"190876","name":"tnm28608.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tnm28608_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tnm28608_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":35716,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tnm28608_0.jpg?itok=ZaVaBM7w"}}},"media_ids":["59143"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.spp.gatech.edu\/faculty\/faculty\/sherbst.php","title":"Dr. Susan Herbst"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.insidehighered.com\/views\/2009\/10\/05\/herbst","title":"Click here to continue reading"}],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"2601","name":"debate"},{"id":"9916","name":"Herbst"},{"id":"10068","name":"political debate"},{"id":"3177","name":"politics"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003ERebecca Keane\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=rkeane3\u0022\u003EContact Rebecca Keane\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-894-1720\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["rebecca.keane@iac.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}