{"id":21013,"date":"2010-01-11T15:00:48","date_gmt":"2010-01-11T20:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/?p=21013"},"modified":"2010-01-11T15:15:19","modified_gmt":"2010-01-11T20:15:19","slug":"on-civility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/daily-astrology\/on-civility\/","title":{"rendered":"On Civility"},"content":{"rendered":"

Apocalypse may not be a field of study but it would seem that the chaos of modernity has produced a perspective related to values. Citizens of various philosophical persuasions are reflecting increased disrespect for fellow citizens and thus for modern day democratic governance. <\/em><\/p>\n

Much of the problem may flow from the fast-changing nature of our society which has so many de-stabilizing elements. But part falls at the feet of politicians and their supporters who use inflammatory rhetoric to divide the country. <\/em><\/p>\n

Candidates may prevail in elections by tearing down rather than uplifting, but if elected, they cannot then unite an angered citizenry. Negativity raises the temperature level of legislatures just as it dispirits the soul of society.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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The words\u00a0above are from\u00a0James Leach, the new Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) from his speech Bridging Cultures.<\/a> For those unfamiliar with the NEH, it is described this way:<\/a> “Because democracy demands wisdom, the National Endowment for the Humanities serves and strengthens our Republic by promoting excellence in the humanities and conveying the lessons of history to all Americans.”<\/p>\n

We’ve heard much on the lack of civility in\u00a0our nation\u2019s political discourse: the Teabagger Movement, the rancorous town halls of last summer, intra-party fighting amongst blue-dog (centrist)\u00a0and far-left Democrats over the health care bill,\u00a0the continued questions over the Wall Street bailout, the continued blaming of President Obama by both sides,\u00a0and the media that thrives\u00a0on \u201cgotcha\u201d \u2013 politics as blood sport for your viewing pleasure.<\/p>\n

In A Decade of Dueling Realities<\/a>, Judith Gayle beautifully addressed the origin and status of the habits\u00a0we formed\u00a0during the Pluto in Sagittarius\u00a0era leading to our present state.\u00a0Ideas became ideologies, evolved to the point that we can find no room\u00a0to discuss\u00a0anything but our extremes in view. The country\u2019s two-party system is now a single rope, pulled\u00a0tightly on either side by\u00a0the extreme left and right. All seem determined to keep the nation’s political pulse in a medical red zone, and\u00a0us from finding amicable solutions.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re beginning to recognize how we got there,\u00a0but still struggling\u00a0to wake from\u00a0that fever dream of extremism. That\u00a0will take much longer than\u00a0four years\u00a0of a new Presidential administration, let alone the one year we are just concluding.\u00a0Where do we go from here? How do we get there?<\/p>\n

As head of the agency charged with informing our educational system\u00a0which includes our scholarship in language,\u00a0history and law, Leach has an interesting challenge in this present day:\u00a0 Our weaponry has potential to set off global annihilation, and the wrong words spoken in\u00a0today’s advanced global communication\u00a0network has the possibility of setting off outrage across continents. How do we\u00a0improve our abrasive, sometimes racist and violent national dialogue with each other\u00a0to one of respectful discourse?\u00a0 How do we improve our dialogue with the rest of the world?<\/p>\n

In\u00a0Leach’s speech “Bridging Cultures” there is a reminder that we need to fully educate ourselves in history and culture not just from our perspective but from all views of the world.\u00a0 Near the conclusion of the speech Leach says:<\/p>\n

Unlike natural physics where Sir Isaac Newton pointed out that action equals reaction, in social chemistry reaction can be greater than action. Name calling in the kindergarten of life can lead to a hardening of attitudes and sometimes physical responses. Hence civil discourse is about more than good manners. To label someone a \u201ccommunist\u201d may spark unspeakable acts; to call a country \u201cevil\u201d may cause a surprisingly dangerous counter-reaction.<\/em><\/p>\n

How we lead or fail to lead in an interdependent world will be directly related to how we comprehend our own history, values and diversity of experience, and how deeply we come to understand and respect other peoples and societies. Citizenship is hard. It takes a willingness to listen, watch, read and think in ways that allow the imagination to put one person in the shoes of another.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jim Leach is not a professor in philosophy or a priest. He was formerly a Republican congressman from Iowa. Personally, I don\u2019t care where he\u2019s from or what party he belongs to. He belongs to\u00a0a whole other school of thought, mostly unheard of and forgotten in the loud diatribe between the country\u2019s warring extremes. This school is not concerned with the rightness of one\u2019s party or position, but in actual historical and fact-based information\u00a0helpful in understanding differences.<\/p>\n

There are many of us here filling up the center who want answers, not enmity, and\u00a0common sense and civility back\u00a0in the national conversation. To accomplish this, there is much work to do on every front, from the classroom to the television. Leach plans to bring a \u201cCivility Tour\u201d with a speech like \u201cBridging Cultures\u201d to the 50 states.\u00a0That seems a bit antiquated \u2013 a single speech is a small unobtrusive step compared to the bombastic pundits and provocative and titillating nightly news commentary or opinion shows\u00a0crowding our head space.<\/p>\n

Yet, the\u00a0quiet way\u00a0is\u00a0often the most\u00a0penetrating. Like seeds dropped in a land needing this new fruit, good ideas that link us together instead\u00a0of the noise that divides us is something we can use. We need to solve\u00a0the problems facing us with intelligence, creativity and without rancor. We cannot do this alone. We need each other to succeed, and all the help we can get to do so.<\/p>\n

Yours\u00a0& truly,<\/p>\n

Fe Bongolan
\n<\/strong>San Francisco<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apocalypse may not be a field of study but it would seem that the chaos of modernity has produced a perspective related to values. Citizens of various philosophical persuasions are reflecting increased disrespect for fellow citizens and thus for modern day democratic governance. Much of the problem may flow from the fast-changing nature of our … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1633,29,1788,52,1054,1632,1631],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21013"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21013\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}