Civil Discourse

   A Facebook friend of C's wrote a post on astrology. C remarked, "waste of time". This person answered with a short rant that ended by calling him "old man". Not content with that she also sent him a text message where she called him a "jerk".
  I was furious. Partly because of the immaturity of the person, partly because I don't like it when anyone calls my husband names and partly because this is part of a disturbing trend that I have noticed for the past several years.
  I remember when people used to talk to each other. It was called conversation and it provided endless hours of amusement and education for many many people in the days before radio,television, computers, cell phones, Ipods,ebooks etc.. In fact being a good conversationalist was considered a good thing and was the mark of a well rounded person.
  Conversation,according to my trusty American Heritage Dictionary, is "A spoken exchange of thoughts,opinions and feelings; talk." Yes, at one time people used to exchange opinions and many times would do so in a respectful manner.
  This has gone out of fashion and I am appalled. It used to be that when two people disagreed on a subject they were able to do so. The two people might discuss their differences and might persuade the other party to change their point of view. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it did not. When it didn't it was called "agreeing to disagree". This is a concept that is quickly getting lost.
  Now if two people disagree on a subject the first thing to do is attack the other person, personally if necessary. If the disagreement is at or about a sporting event physical attacks can happen. If you can't get the person to agree with you, either shut them up or make them feel bad.
  If the person that disagrees with you happens to be a public figure you have a huge arsenal in Twitter, You Tube and Facebook. All you have to do is find a film clip or sound bite of the person, put it on You Tube with a few choice comments and then sit back and watch while everyone gets worked up.
  Having a different opinion is a perilous thing these days. If you are a business owner and you voice an opinion that differs from a lot of people you can find yourself in the center of a world of rage. It can be very bad for business. In fact any kind of public figure can have their entire world destroyed just by voicing their opinion on something.
   Does anyone see the problem here? One of the things we are allowed in the Bill of Rights is freedom of speech. In fact it is the first amendment. The founders of this country placed a high value on the right to speak freely, a right that they did not always have. They valued it so much that they put in place laws to make sure that the government could not inhibit freedom of speech.
  If those founders knew what we were doing with their precious right to free speech they would be spinning in their graves faster than a wheel on race car. The right that they worked so hard to leave us, the right that so many people died to keep intact is being eroded. Not by the government, but by us. The people.
   It is time to take back that right. It is time to remember that we are all allowed our opinions and have the right to express them without fear of threats and violence. Let's learn the art of conversation and the ability to agree to disagree. Who knows, if we regain this skill we may learn some new things and we may turn out to be stronger than ever.