This post is part of our ongoing effort to highlight discourse about civility around the web. Our articles for civility linkblogging come from a wide cross-section of blogs and newspapers, magazines and other websites, from the United States and abroad.
This week, the thing to notice in our list is less the specifics of the articles themselves than the scope of topics and geographies that defines them as a group. We have calls for civility in the civic culture of Pakistan and in the local politics of Massachusetts. We have incivility on Twitter and in one newspaper’s letters to the editor. We have horse racing, the legal profession, and the ongoing disputed primary between incumbent Thad Cochran and challenger Chris McDaniel for the Republican Senate nomination in the state of Mississippi.
The scope, this week, is especially broad.
If you have an article that you think would be right for future civility linkblogging posts, please do not hesitate to email it to us at [email protected]. Include the title, url, and a short summary, and we will gladly review it for publication.
Now — the list:
A Call for Civility a Matter of Common Sense
Posted at The Andover Townsman Online, June 26, 2014
Lyman, who spent more than 20 years in public service starting in 1992 on the School Committee followed by a dozen or so years as selectwoman, said the tone of civic dialogue had grown too contentious for her to bear.
Indeed, it was one of the reasons she had chosen not to seek a fifth term as selectwoman.
In Search of Civility
Posted by Rehan Ul Haque at http://rehanhaque2020.wordpress.com, June 29, 2014
After having spent a year out of Pakistan, and having experienced the plain civility of the people in Canada, I find some of the following quite troublesome here in the Pak Land….
How much effort does it take to just say Thank You? If you are servicing a customer in a shop or any other commercial establishment, Thank You makes a huge difference.
Political Civility 101
Posted at QCOnline.com, July 2, 2014
We remain eager to share as many of your views as possible. But we cannot allow Viewpoints to become a space to launch ad hominem attacks, or make false or unprovable claims.
It’s tough to come up with a specific list of things which will move a letter to the rejection pile. So we must rely on our ability to “know it when we see it.” We suspect that, if most writers looked at their letters with a cold, critical eye before they hit the send key, they’d see it, too.
Civility is always a winner
Posted by Edward C. Poll at The Daily Record, July 3, 2014
Recently, California has acknowledged that fact with a new rule. On May 1, 2014, the California Supreme Court adopted Rule 9.4 of the California Rules of Court. The rule modified the lawyer’s oath of office. The oath taken by every lawyer when being admitted to legal practice in California still begins, “I solemnly swear (or affirm). …” However, that oath now ends with newly added language: “As an officer of the court, I will strive to conduct myself at all times with dignity, courtesy, and integrity.”
A #@% Here, a B*l*e*e*p There, Civility’s Scarce on the Internet
Posted by Hembree Brandon at Delta Farm Press, July 14, 2014
The election night Twitter feed was, alas, a microcosm of the proliferation of incivility and decline of manners/respect that have occurred as the Internet has become a part of everyday life. The anonymity of screen names and the almost complete absence of monitoring of posts on websites and social media venues have spawned a Wild West, anything-goes arena in which people can write anything — however derogatory or vile — with no consequences.
Often as not, posts have nothing to do with the website’s topic or interest. Whether a financial website, medical, automotive, you-name-it, the posts are laced with vulgarities and crude insults directed at other posters.