This is a series of considerations about incivility, which appears to be reaching endemic levels. I use “endemic” instead of “epidemic” because “epidemic” suggests that there is a sudden, unexpected rise in the occurrences of a particular condition, while “endemic” suggests a given condition is consistently present in a particular geography. While every generation of porch-sitting elders imbues a new, unfounded level of rudeness and lack of civility to the subsequent generation, there has been little scientific or academic rigour directed toward establishing an objective trend in the oft uttered decline in civility. There may be no measurable decline in civility whatsoever: it may just be a consistent case of generational perception that the subsequent generation is always a collection of ingrates, degenerates and ne'er-do-wells. And each generation may be somewhat justified in its scornful opinion of the subsequent generation. Technology continues to gradually strip us of the collective requirement to think and act, such that we are constantly seeking more creative ways to fill our time, or at least more ways to cram more of what we like, namely television, shopping and Face book, into the limits of human wakefulness, despite that we all think we're very busy. Seriously – we aren't. African women walking 10km for a bit of drinking water are busy – we're just occupied. Most statistics suggest that most of us are busy watching more TV, spending more money and spending more time online. If it can't be poured into our eyes and ears from a pixilated hi-def greased with deafening hi-fi, we want none of it. However, my general concern, and the concern of this blog, is not that we're a bunch of lazy saps, but that for many possible reasons, there really does seem to be a decline in civility in North America. Frankly, we're just not very good at living together any longer... and your grandmother has known it for years.
Ergo, the namesake, Incivilitis, which describes the current condition that has been forecast by generations of cantankerous finger-waggers. It's an unsavoury affliction spread and propagated by rude, unthoughtful interactions between hapless citizens who feel self-entitled, self-important and well informed, despite their anonymity, their general ignorance and their lack of thoughtfulness. It's spreading, and it's deadly, causing stress, anxiety and high blood pressure levels previously unseen in otherwise normal populations. It's not that I think I'm much brighter or more ethical than the average middle-aged, married, heterosexual, white, middle class, male (although I do believe I'm in the top twentieth percentile of bow-legged, grain-fed males in west-central Saskatchewan). But as the grateful recipient of an extensive university education, which provided much luxurious and otherwise idle time for thinking, drinking, observing and reading about human behaviour, I find myself exceptionally frustrated not by significant life events, like serious illness, career changes and human tragedies – events which should, by nature, cause significant stress - but by the pains of everyday public interactions, like buying groceries, getting gas, ordering at a restaurant and driving to the store. People's inability to conduct themselves in a civil fashion during the simplest of life's public interactions really is the canary in the political and social coalmine of North America.
This is a small collection of thoughts, considerations and observations about everyday incivility along with a little simple advice for stupid people on how to improve their own civility. The primary purpose of civilization, as proposed by the best classical liberal thinkers from Hobbes to Locke, to all do better for ourselves by agreeing to live together, where the limits of individual freedom are to refrain from interfering with each others' liberty. Although that's a rather imprecise definition to live by, we attempt to help define those limitations with laws, regulations and bylaws. However, you can't legislate good manners and good sense – it's strictly voluntary, with only shame, ridicule, introspection and polite exception to guide the way.
