Shove Your Civility
Can Americans—Should Americans—Disagree Less Bitterly?
Yes, Americans are polarized. Yes, we’re also uncivil about it. We shout at our fellow citizens across barricades, leave enraged posts on websites, and tune in to watch people shouting at one another on cable news. We’re ticked off, and we’re showing it. But is it really a problem? That was the central question at the Zócalo/Cal Humanities “Searching for Democracy” event at Marines’ Memorial Club & Hotel in San Francisco, which was entitled “Is Civility Overrated?” Moderator Joe Mathews, a Zócalo editor and fellow at the Center for Social …
