Community Corner
Has Rude Behavior Become Our New Normal?
Of those who expect civility to worsen in the next few years, 34 percent blame Twitter.
Seventy percent of Americans believe incivility has reached crisis proportions.
And according to a survey released this week, Americans encounter rudeness more than twice a day on average. Forty-three percent expect to experience incivility in the next 24 hours. Additionally, 81 percent of Americans think that incivility is leading to an increase in violence.
What's to blame? Four groups are called out by the survey:
- Politicians
- America’s youth
- The media
- The Internet
Civility in America: A Nationwide Survey, conducted by the public relations firm Weber Shandwick, says "Without a doubt, America has a civility problem. (The study) reiterates the unfortunate fact that incivility is ubiquitous; no area of American society is untouched. Eroding civility is harmful to our country’s future and takes a toll on how we interact with the people and institutions around us.
Close to home, David Boze, on mynorthwest.com, writes:
"This selfishness is infecting all of us, maybe even me, and I'm not seeing it. It's a self-centeredness that is observable in all of society. I see it every day when I go home. You can see it too. All you have to do is turn on turn signal, if you're in traffic, and watch what the car next to you does."
Among other findings of the May 2013 Civility study that included 1,000 people:
- 50 percent of those polled have ended a friendship because another person was uncivil
- 26 percent of Americans have quit a job because they worked at an uncivil workplace
- 87 percent believe it is wrong to be on the phone with someone while talking with someone else in person
- 70 percent believe the Internet encourages uncivil behavior
- 80 percent believe civility won't improve until our government leaders act more civilly
What do you think? Do you experience rudeness on a daily basis? Is it something you almost expect? Are politicians, the media, and the Internet to blame?
Would you take a national civility pledge on one day each year?
Please tell us in your comments, and let us know what you think.
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