The death of civil discourse in America

Our entire nation is mourning the events of this past Saturday at a Tucson Safeway. But the question is, can meaning be found in such a senseless act? It's hard to say. This event was on the heels of other acts of violence here in the Midwest. First an Omaha teenager shot and killed the associate principle and shot and critically injured the principal at his high school. This followed his suspension from school for driving on the football field. Then days later, here in Des Moines, a student was suspended after bringing a loaded gun on campus.

And it's important to remember the public discourse so common these days that might be setting the example. When you have Sharon Angle of Nevada suggesting "2nd ammendment remedies" for elections that do not turn out as one desires; Sarah Palin used a gunsight to target Gabriella Giffords congressional seat and we as a nation have been sitting on pins and needles just waiting for some wing nut to take these exhortations seriously enough to act on them.

Yes there has always been school violence and Political assasinations. And that is a terrible thing. But how much are we incentivizing the crazies to act out with violence? Is our national rhetoric becoming so hateful that we are telling members of society that incivility is appropriate behavior? Why isn't it possible for those in disagreement to engage in thoughtful and critical dialogue instead of resorting to maliciousness, foul language, and yes violence.

Recently I was involved in an on-line discussion in which one participant became especially vitriolic in her disagreement with the other members of the group. Several times she referred to the ideas of others as stupid or idiotic. In a later posting she finally resorted to fouled language. Now mind you, this was a pretty benign subject--nothing to do with politics or religion--just looking for opinions on a particular behavior. It should come as no surprise that the group picked up their toys and went home as evidenced by the lack of further posts to the site.

So again, one must wonder what is it about us that wants confrontation? What is it about our national identity that finds incivility in political dialogue helpful or appropriate? Clearly it is neither.