What Happened to Respect?

[Hermit For Peace]

In 2009 when Rep Joe Wilson yelled at Obama "You lie!" during a joint session of congress, that was a pivotal moment when respect in politics started a sharp decline, in my view.

Today, look what we have going on now. It's messy, and it's ugly. There is little cooperation between members of the parties and lots of ill will.

What happened to respect for one another? And how are we going to get it back? I mean, you can disagree with your co-workers but still be respectful towards them.

What's it going to take to put a semblance of decency back into our government?

I think more than this impeachment thing going on, the disintegration of respect for one another is the worst thing that can happen and that has happened to our country. And it's a shame because when you don't have respect for others, you have nothing worth having.

[Hermit For Peace]

Maybe the word I should have used is civility.

Where is the civility in politics today? You don't have to like people to act civil toward them.

Respect is something one earns. We can respect the office of the presidency, but not the man in it. I would be civil to Trump if I met him, but he has earned zilch from me in the respect department.

I am correcting myself then.

Civility is what is needed now. How hard can that be?

[Hermit For Peace]

So where and how does this lack of civility road end?

We can't keep the downward spiral going. We will turn ourselves into a third world country.

[Hermit For Peace]

Maybe the word I should have used is civility.

Where is the civility in politics today? You don't have to like people to act civil toward them.

Respect is something one earns. We can respect the office of the presidency, but not the man in it. I would be civil to Trump if I met him, but he has earned zilch from me in the respect department.

I am correcting myself then.

Civility is what is needed now. How hard can that be?

Politicians are a reflection of society, i.e. the people that vote for them. The people are going to need to regain some semblance of civility if we're ever going to expect it from politicians.

That's true. Trump is a symptom, not the cause.

[Hermit For Peace]

Bipartisanship, respect, civility is a scam that only exists in journo narrative fiction land

That was an interesting article. I think it spoke mostly to bipartisanship. There certainly doesn't seem to be much of that going on today. But can't we be civil when we disagree? Can't we treat others with civility that we ourselves want to be treated with?

In the age of Trump, in the age of bullying on social media and in the public arena, in the age of school shootings that we experience today, how far down the rabbit hole are we willing to go before we do a turn around and start changing the way we treat each other?