(Continuing the discussion of Nuance from a previous blog entry)
The recent obsession with incivility started when the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia asked Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her party to leave soon after having been sat. Liberals responded with opinions–perhaps–split down the middle: either to meet rudeness with kindness, or to respond in kind. Conservatives were united in their opinions.
Maxine Waters, the Democratic Representative from California’s 43rd district, passionately called for civic and peaceful public retribution against those complicit in morally suspect/reprehensible actions of the Trump administration:
Rep. Waters: “If you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. You push back on them. Tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere!”
While many non-politicians with public voices agreed with Rep. Waters, most other Democratic politicians argued against publicly shunning members of the Trump administration and its supporters.
Many compared the treatment of SHS to either racial segregation or refusal to bake a cake for homosexuals. Brian Lehrer had a segment (Calls for Civility, 27 Jun 2018) where callers pointed out that discrimination based on a person’s public actions and statements is different than that based on skin color or nationality: the former is chosen freely.
Trump supporters, for their part, felt they were being treated unfairly. (Many would say that, with Republicans at the height of power, they were and have been throughout the Trump presidency “playing the victim”.)
This lady from last night’s Trump rally in SC told me to tone it down. She talked about a possible civil war and people shooting each other. Just one example of some of the anger directed at the press at Trump rallies. pic.twitter.com/eK2iINUcrj
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 27, 2018
From the video: “What’s going to happen is we’re going to end up with a civil war. You’re going to have people shooting people. You need to tone it down a little bit. The language, everything it’s gotta stop. Be decent, please be decent. Don’t ask any more stupid questions. When [she?] answers a question, you don’t understand English. One question, one answer. You should understand…”
Trump’s gross and frequent incivility does not need to be pointed out or repeated.
I don’t think.
This form of asymmetric warfare is problematic. Conservatives will be, and revel in being, aggressive and coarse. Responses in kind from liberals are met with outrage from both conservatives and liberals. (Michelle Obama eloquently strove to “go high”.) How important is it right now with what we have seen to eschew civility?