Respect
April 4, 2006
The one aspect that I miss most in today’s political campaigns is the ability to have discourse, dialogue or debate that is courteous and non–inflammatory. I’m not referring to the cute cliché that is thrown in at the opportune moment nor even the witty response that is used at the right time. No, it is the mean spirited remarks or the below the belt innuendos used to incite non–productive emotion with the intent to evoke attack response. It is almost as if the ability to debate and discuss openly and in a calm and intelligent manner is a lost art.
Republican or Democrat. Liberal or Conservative. Libertarian or Green Party. It doesn’t matter what part of the cloth you are cut from, it seems that every faction at one time or another have released the debate dog tactic as part of their arsenal of negative campaigning. It has gotten to the point now where some of the first statements released by candidates is a pledge to “not” use negative tactics as long as their opponent agrees to do the same, which of course has never received a positive response in return. So, I guess, being the first one to indicate willingness toward cleanliness scores positive points?
Yes, politics is a rough game. You do need a thick skin and you can’t take things personally. But even a rough game has rules, written or assumed. And underneath all the who–ha we are all still people. We need to get back to the basics and inject R–E–S–P–E–C–T back into the process. And we as voters must do are part too. We must listen and respond in an intelligent and fair manner. We may not agree with every aspect or statement made by candidates, but it is only right and respectful to listen and respond in a manner befitting the bounds of common decency. You might even call it “classical”..
So as a voting populace, what can or should we do about this common practice of inflammatory rhetoric in our political discourse? Actually, as a society which is partially built on the precept, “all men are created equal”, what will we do to get back to the practice of civil discourse in our political process?Two items that I would throw out there to help begin the change to our style of political dialogue are educational process reform and journalistic mindset. Both are complicated topics for future discussion, and both will most likely require our generation to pass before we will recapture civil discourse as a standard and bring back the respect for the individuals involved. But begin we must
In this my first article for the inaugural issue I invite dialogue, discourse and yes, even debate about our political system, country, state, county or city. We will not always agree, but we will always share our thoughts and learn from each other. And maybe, if we are lucky help to mold positive change.
As Always,
The Elephant
RESPECT was written by PAI's Media Fellow, The Elephant. © PAI 2006.