Pier M.

Forni, author of The Civility Solution: What to Do When People are Rude and
director of The Civility Initiative at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, assert "In
today's America, incivility is on prominent display: in the schools, where bullying is
pervasive; in the workplace, where an increasing number are more stressed out by
coworkers than their jobs; on the roads, where road rage maims and kills; in politics, where
strident intolerance takes the place of earnest dialogue; and on the Web, where many check
their inhibitions at the digital door."

We know we are behaving badly. The numbers bear it out. In poll after poll, Americans say
incivility is bad and getting worse. In addition, we are not happy about the way we are
acting. "Incivility is turning into a national epidemic. When seven out of 10 citizens report
that incivility has reached crisis proportions in this country, you know that we need new
solutions and greater leadership accountability. We may have reached the tipping point.
“Why America has become a Nation of unpleasant boors? Pier Forni says it is because they
are stressed and insecure: "The weak economy, [recent] wars going on, the threat of
terrorism, the hostile political environment, the two major parties warring with one another
and exchanging salvos that are not very civil -- these are not the most pleasant or stress-free
of times," says Forni. "When we are stressed, we are less likely to be considerate and kind
to others. We retire, retreat into the citadel of ourselves and we shut the door. We are more
prone to anger. We are less tolerant of the mistakes of others."

However, the incivility will be caused only by stress? As I walk to work each day, two or
three lads in a group tend to belt along the pavement on bicycle. Their actions are antisocial
and I had ascribed their behavior to malice: I am coming this way, whether you like it or
not. Today, one of the skidded to almost a halt before passing me, squeezing himself
between the edge of the kern and a lamppost, which changed my assessment. The behavior
was still antisocial, but the youth understood that the imperative to avoid a collision was on
him. My judgement on the incivility switched from malice to teenage ignorance. In
addition, all antisocial behavior needs to be assessed in the same way: do people act
selfishly because they do not understand the consequences, or do they act knowingly and
not care.

I think Forni falls short of getting to the real core of the problem. Stress and insecurity
certainly aggravate the condition, but I see the deep polarization of American opinion on
virtually every major issue as magnifying the flashpoints of contention to the temper-
bursting point. Extremist points of view on both the right and left leave no room for
tolerance and compromise with the opposite view.

The author with a realistic, formal and sometimes condescending tone, makes a call without
preference to the public about the importance of civility in society and shows with real data
how the lack of civility in the American population has grown increasingly