The Expatriate Minister

A brief thought today.

I’m not the first to say it, but I’m deeply concerned about the incivility and viciousness that electronic communications seem to generate. Whether it’s getting personally attacked in an email, leaving a nastygram masquerading as a blog comment, or igniting a flame war on social networking sites — it is wrong. Having family, friends, and colleagues who write and share their thoughts on the internet, my observation is that the blogosphere is particularly ripe for this sort of hostility.

I’m tempted to say that because these often occur without interpersonal relationships, it’s easier to set aside the social ramifications of actually communicating something rude, mean, untrue, or ignorant.

But having also experienced it with people I know, and within communities that ought to know better, I’ve come to a slightly different conclusion. The electronic medium itself leads to the perception that there will be no (or at least reduced) consequences for incivility, regardless of any IRL (in real life) interactions.

Civility is rooted in the Latin civitas, “townsman.” It’s the virtue that allows us to live together in close quarters, in a city or community. Whether the community is enhanced by technology or created y social media, it’s here to stay — and will only grow in significance. Hopefully our sense of civility will expand as well.