Civility in public discourse

[Guy Fawkes]

I believe that the one thing wrong about today's society, more then anything else, is the lack of civility in public discourse. It is evident everywhere you go; shock jocks sit on the radio and call out profanities to each other all day. Even our senators and representatives have long abandoned the gentlemanly act of dueling (all but one, at least... right Zell?) and instead opt to slander each other publicly when they disagree. For this reason, I am proposing a few rules to follow, in order to enhance the general civility of the public discourse:

1. A crude phrase can easily be made into a civilized one with minimal thought, like so:
Before: "Ann Coulter is a stupid bitch."
After: "It is my opinion, and certainly the opinion of any thinking person, that Ann Coulter is a stupid bitch."

2. Slandering your opponent with lies and half truths is out. Instead, tell the truth about them:
Before: "George Bush is dumber then a sack of shit."
After: "George Bush is dumber then a sack and a half of shit- he totally has the one sack beat."

3. Party boundaries shouldn't confine opinion in debate:
Before: "All republicans suck."
After: "All republicans and Zell Miller suck. But John McCain is okay most of the time."

[KitchenWitch]

1. *snort*

You owe me a keyboard!

:rofl::spray: