No Kings posters, Trump’s AI video and America’s waning civility

Straight Arrow News

3 months ago

Transcript

00:00Is civility in U.S. politics on life support? Recent polling data shows a majority of Americans

00:05believe civility has declined in the last decade.

00:15President Trump posted that video over the weekend in response to No King's protests

00:20across the country. Conservative leaders like House Speaker Mike Johnson called the protest

00:25Hate America rallies, while a White House spokesperson called the protesters pro-Hamas.

00:31Meanwhile, protesters across the country repeatedly called Trump and other administration officials

00:36Nazis and fascists. A recent poll showed 85 percent of Americans believe civility in the U.S.

00:43is worse than it was 10 years ago. There's no question that our public discourse has been

00:48coarsened in recent decades, in recent years. No question about that. Experts we spoke with said

00:54American leadership acting uncivilly can impact the public.

00:58I think as leaders, we set the tone, but also people want to find leaders that they can identify

01:05with. And that's part of this dichotomy that we're experiencing with Trump. People are drawn in

01:13because they can identify with his simple communication.

01:17It's come this timeless chicken and the egg problem that philosophers have been grappling

01:21with for a very long time. What comes first? Does a virtuous citizenry, you know, lead to a virtuous

01:27leadership? Or does virtuous leadership promote virtuous citizenry? Like, which comes first?

01:33Both of those experts also mention social media's role. Data shows social media algorithms push people

01:39to act less civilly for more clicks and engagement. National media outlets also tend to focus on moments of

01:46incivility from public leaders, knowing it's going to receive attention.

01:50It's performative, spectacular, you know, media hijacking. That's what we see on full display.

01:57And I'm much more interested in shining attention on the people who are digging down, cultivating,

02:02building something better and more beautiful in their communities.

02:05Another issue is what's known as identity politics, where partisanship has become a larger part of people's identities.

02:12I think that's a huge part of the problem. I think that, you know, one thing that we really have

02:16to focus on is what we have in common. And I think that one of the things that we lose sight of is that

02:22we truly want the same thing in the end, except we both both sides frequently think that

02:29achieving that same goal is done in a very different way.

02:34So how does civility get restored in America?

02:36We need to put politics back in its proper place. We need to find things and recover things in our

02:44lives that are totally apolitical in nature.

02:47Hudson said each person needs to find it within themselves.

02:50Social healing in our country is happening. Right now, the porchers of the world, the people who are

02:56saying, I can't control what the president says or does. I can't control the tragedy happening across

03:02the world, but I can control myself. I'm going to double down and make my community better and

03:08stronger and more beautiful.

03:09Zasada also said we could learn from our nation's youth.

03:12Our youth are really being taught a great deal of emotional intelligence and learning a great deal

03:18about civility and acceptance and listening to the other side. I'm a mother of multiple children

03:25under the age of 18. And I can see in the way that they communicate, the way that they're learning

03:31in school, that they're making strong inroads against incivility. And I think that we almost need

03:41to take a page from that playbook and recognize that we have to learn to play nice, just like our

03:48children are.

03:48For Straight Arrow News, I'm Lauren Keenan. If you want more on this story,

03:52download the Straight Arrow News app or visit SIN.com.

03:55For Straight Arrow News, I'm Lauren Keenan.

No Kings posters, Trump’s AI video and America’s waning civility

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