Page 10 - Division, Intolerance, and Conflict: Can Public Civility Ever Be Restored?

operate in good faith . . . offer fair terms of cooperation, fashion
rational arguments for our positions and depend, in the absence
of agreement, on mutual consent,” she says. “We must behave
as though everyone shares a common stake in the fl ourishing of
the civic whole.” 8

Order or Justice?
Some might see cooperation and consent as necessary for so-
ciety to function smoothly, even when there are strong disagree-
ments. But calls for civility have long been used to stifl e political
protest. Civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. addressed this
problem in 1963. While King was in jail for taking part in non-
violent protests against Alabama’s racist segregation policies, he
wrote “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” The open letter was not
addressed to violent racists in the Ku Klux Klan but instead to lo-
cal White clergy members who argued in favor of civility over row-
dy street demonstrations. The White leaders often said that Black

Some people say that
incivility is a lack of
politeness in public, such
as when drivers honk their
horns or yell at pedestrians
or other drivers.