Did you see the news video ...the gathering of politicians which was met by a group of reporters? Soon Representative Virginia Foxx was shouting "Shut up ! Shut up!" to one questioning reporter. The Charlotte Observer opinion columnist Isaac Bailey wrote that she "behaved like an 8-year-old on the national stage." He continued, "If Foxx had any political integrity, or integrity of any kind, she would not have shouted 'Shut up !. . . Instead, she joined in with fellow Republicans hissing, booing and unleashing childlike taunts."
Some would say that she was being "ugly" and that would not refer to her lack of physical beauty. Ugly according to my dictionary means things like: disagreable, unpleasant, nasty, offensive, rude and quarrelsome. Telling someone to "shut up" is generally considered rude and impolite. Rather like the opposite of being civil or courteous/polite.
Edwin Newman, the late NBC reporter, observed that "the state of the language is a direct reflection of the country". While his two books, A Civil Tongue and Strictly Speaking, addressed the deterioration of correct usage of speech, evidence abounds for the deterioration of civil discourse --- particularly among politicians and some purported Christians. Inflammatory words and images are tossed around with so much frequency that such coarseness has become the norm. Add to that recipe ad hominem or personal attacks against the character and integrity of those of differing opinions, and the result likely will be today's headline.UGLY !
Perhaps I am being a Pollyanna to long for discourse , public and private, marked by sentiments and behaviors conveying qualities such as decency, honesty, truth, goodness, respect, integrity, kindness, civility. . . Did a former United States President keep his promise of "I will never lie to you."? Then there was a former Press Secretary who famously told reporters "I will never lie to you. You have my word on that." and immediately violated her promise. There is often a wide space between FACT and OPINION.t
There exists a strong temptation to disengage, to turn away when the rhetoric becomes too coarse. In the face of that, I want to resist UGLY and speak with a civil tongue .
Satchel
