Lately, it feels like we’ve gotten off track. We, being the collective group of us interacting with one another on a regular basis. In the grocery store, on the playground, in our offices, with our clients, in our comments, in public forums like the New York Times…it’s in these places that I feel like we’ve gone astray. We’ve become uncivil. Quick to judge. Quick to jump to conclusions. Quick to share really nasty opinions with friends, co-workers…the world.
Where is the civility? Where is the commitment to treat each other with consideration and respect, to behave calmly and reasonably, even during heated debates? Sure, it’s hard to do that all the time. There are certainly times when it’s important to share information (as negative as it may appear) in order to protect someone, educate, achieve justice, or to defend oneself. However, it’s equally important to do so with civility. With consideration and respect. Calmly and reasonably.
We can all think of several examples of missed opportunities for civility. Recent elections across the country brought out a wave of unusually vitriolic language, rather than civil discourse. We have anti-gay protesters showing up at military funerals…yes, it’s your right to protest, and the Supreme Court has deemed it worthy of protection, but is this really the most civil way to show your disagreement? Are you showing respect and consideration to the families of these soldiers?
And then there’s Charlie Sheen. Bless his heart (we can say that here in the South when someone has apparently gone so far off the deep end, there’s just no turning back. He’s become the poster child of vitriolic rants and much in need of a dose of civility lately when he’s appeared in interviews on television or radio ‘chats’.
Many of us recently witnessed a very public rant against the entire PR industry -showcased in the New York Times. What a missed opportunity for civility! There have been several posts and comments around the topic, and the ‘ranter’ again had an opportunity for civil discourse and debate when he responded to Jenn Whinnem on Soulati’s blog Tuesday night.
I’m not going to belabor the point here; I’m going to suggest we move on. Let’s acknowledge the fact that he behaved badly (without civility) and that we as PR professionals need to do a better job of educating, prepping, and interviewing our clients.
Going beyond these examples, that rant, the PR industry, and this blog, I’d like to implore you (all of you) to commit to acting with civility. Show respect and consideration, even during heated debates. Discuss, tweet, post and comment with civility. Trust me, people are watching. They learn from you. They look up to you. Setting this example will cost you nothing. The payoff? Immeasurable.
Photo links: Civility, Protesters, Tranquility
[...] standards. As one of the bloggers who posted a series of articles on this debacle and its fall out (assisted with a guest post by the lovely and talented writer Jenn Whinnem), the theme for me [...]
[...] I also blame our brothers and sisters who reside on the media side; pointedly, The New York Times Small Business Blog. It gave carte blanche to a jamoke to blog anti-PR sentiment on a global soapbox and, as a result, he incited an entire profession. (Sorry, no more links being handed out to this dude.) He’s not the only one; you can read many more examples on Spin Sucks; Gini Dietrich does a fantastic job in support of the profession, via Shonali Burke at Waxing Unlyrical where she recently covered the TechCrunch whine at a PR pro. She revisits the same topic a bit deeper March 7 here, on Spin Sucks. “Where is the Professionalism in PR?” Allison Development Group, that’s Erica’s blog, speaks forth on Where’s the Civility? [...]
[...] = ''; } Tomorrow is another day…See You AgainWhere is the Civility? ul.legalfooter li{ list-style:none; float:left; padding-right:20px; } .accept{ display:none; [...]
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