Civility Project

[Opsa]

I don't know if anyone's mentioned this here before, but I just heard about it on the news and looked it up:
http://www.civilityproject.org/

PS: I just mentioned our website on theirs.

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

Sounds like our kind of thing.

[Mikey66]

Went out there today and signed up myself...That's how I found this website.....

[Opsa]

...and I'm glad you did!

Someone just made a rude comment on this page: http://www.civilityproject.org/?p=25 but I answered it. hee hee!

[Opsa]

Re-posting to open a conversation about the Civility project. The
Civility Pledge is as follows:

    * I will be civil in my public discourse and behavior.
    * I will be respectful of others whether or not I agree with them.
    * I will stand against incivility when I see it.

I notice that they do not mention humbleness, as we do. I think it helps not to assume one has the ultimate truth.

I also wonder about the last pledge item- standing up against incivility. I'll have to go back and read up about that part. I like the brave stance (very Sibling Chatty!), but I can also imagine that it could lead to harm if misunderstanding is involved.

[Mikey66]

About the only subject I've seen on the Civility Project so far is thanks from everyone for creating the website...I'm sure when the dust settles, folks will start talking about other things....It's a great start though.....

[beagle]

Someone just made a rude comment on this page: http://www.civilityproject.org/?p=25 but I answered it. hee hee

The comment to which you replied seems to have disappeared. Either you embarrassed him(?) into a retraction, or incivility is ruthlessly exterminated.

[Opsa]

I saw that too, and expect that the latter is the case. Do you think they handled it in a civil way?

[beagle]

I hope so. After all, even professor Moriarty and all the Bond villains are scrupulously polite. As Churchill said, "When you have to kill someone it costs nothing to be polite".

[Opsa]

Actually, the guy was rather polite, as I recall. He said something like "I respectfully say f*@# you." I thought it was pretty funny, actually. They should have left it in, or at least edited the f word out. I don't know whether it is civil to outright censor people, especially if the rules were not spelled out.

Something that's bugging me about that board is that a few people have written in saying "these kids today" or "Americans", etc. are rude. I think generalizations are rude! I made a comment about it, but it didn't seem to help.

It bothers me that some people want to blame "these kids today" for rudeness. If these folks are regarding all "kids" as rude, I can't imagine it's making anyone feel more civil. Plus, the accusers seem to be putting the responsibility on someone else to change. It is "we" (all of us) who need to practice more civility, not just "them", isn't it?

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

As long as civility isn't a code word for 'knowing your place' all is fine.

Perhaps some of them think that being civil has nothing to do with being tolerant, in which case you could be completely prejudiced and civil at the same time. 

[Aggie]

Perhaps some of them think that being civil has nothing to do with being tolerant, in which case you could be completely prejudiced and civil at the same time. 

Actually - I think one technically can.  Civil discussion, IMHO, at least paves the way for mutual understanding and therefore may lead to tolerance, but not necessarily.  Regardless, being civil to those one is prejudiced (provided the civility is genuine and not condescending or patronizing) is certainly better than incivility.