Reviving Respect: Addressing the Decline of Civility in Society
Show Notes
What if incivility, not civility, has become our societal norm? We bravely confront this unsettling reality, shedding light on how our interactions have shifted towards hostility rather than productive debate. Through a candid discussion enriched by personal anecdotes, we reflect on how we once elevated discussions to advance ideas, contrasting sharply with today's landscape of outrage amplified by social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. We comment on the ripple effects of hyperpartisanship and eroding trust in institutions, adding how these factors cultivate a divisive environment, leading to political violence and hindering progress on critical issues like healthcare and climate change.
We are concerned by the normalization of inhumanity, starting with the situation involving Hamas, and calls for a return to basic human decency. We draw thought-provoking parallels to the sportsmanship seen in hockey, where respect and reconciliation prevail despite fierce competition. This analogy serves as a powerful reminder that life should mirror this attitude.
00:00:06.490 --> 00:00:12.730 I asked you this morning, ladies and gentlemen, this afternoon, whenever you're watching this is the definition of civil?
00:00:12.730 --> 00:00:15.205 What's the definition of nice?
00:00:15.205 --> 00:00:18.207 If you listened to our last podcast, I was a real asshole.
00:00:18.207 --> 00:00:19.129 I was a real jerk.
00:00:19.129 --> 00:00:21.928 Civility was definitely out the window on that one.
00:00:21.928 --> 00:00:24.446 I acted like a Democrat oh, I didn't mean to say it like that.
00:00:24.446 --> 00:00:26.567 I acted rudely and obnoxiously.
00:00:26.567 --> 00:00:27.992 Okay to Stuart.
00:00:27.992 --> 00:00:32.848 There was no civility in my tone because I didn't agree with him, so therefore I insulted him.
00:00:33.430 --> 00:00:45.195 This has become the norm in our society, but it's vile, it's gone out of hand and we seem to have lost one word for each other Respect.
00:00:45.195 --> 00:00:46.865 Hey everybody, welcome back to the Rent Network.
00:00:46.865 --> 00:00:48.926 I'm David Solomon, he is Stuart Braskell.
00:00:48.926 --> 00:01:01.335 We get ready because you know what, on this unedited, unfiltered, uncensored and really unapologetic although I just did apologize conversation, we cover everything from news, pop culture and the quirks of modern life, and so much more.
00:01:01.395 --> 00:01:10.090 Look, we are going to talk very honestly we always do about the diverse perspectives that make us think, laugh, smile, get angry, you name it.
00:01:10.090 --> 00:01:14.287 But we're honest, we're open and it's a no-holds-barred.
00:01:14.287 --> 00:01:26.655 So sit back, relax, as today we talk about what is really going on in our society and that is our inability to talk to each other without losing our minds.
00:01:26.655 --> 00:01:38.552 Now, stuart, I don't know if you caught yesterday, hannity interviewed both Elon Musk and Donald Trump, and Elon Musk said that ever since he started working with Donald Trump, he lost friends.
00:01:38.552 --> 00:01:47.974 People are being uncivil, the rude and obnoxiousness of what he's doing when you don't agree with someone.
00:01:47.974 --> 00:01:51.768 We have lost all form of like.
00:01:51.768 --> 00:02:01.013 Our brains have gone to the shits and I'm wondering, stuart, like what the hell is going on in our society that we just can't be civil.
00:02:01.920 --> 00:02:25.211 You know, listen, david, I accept your accept your apology and you know, for for everyone that's been listening for the last four plus years, you know, david and I play a role on this podcast, like many people play roles in tv or even at work or even with their spouses, but and we play around and this really started harmlessly that many years ago.
00:02:25.211 --> 00:02:37.711 And last night I was pondering on a way on bringing up, I guess, the focus of last broadcast where David now just came publicly to apologize, which really wasn't necessary.
00:02:37.711 --> 00:03:00.051 We've been friends for God knows how many years 45 plus years and I really don't care because he can't offend me, because it's just david, but the word civility and and what it means and and the role it plays in politics, like there's been so much contentious behavior for anyone it's just sort of gone out the window.
00:03:00.051 --> 00:03:07.473 You can't have a disagreement without personal attacking, misinformation, misinformation or obstruction.
00:03:07.473 --> 00:03:19.735 You know figures like Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass engaged in heated but respectful debates, advancing ideas rather than tearing down their opponent.
00:03:19.735 --> 00:03:26.933 The US Senate was once a place where ideological rivals could still share and meet.
00:03:26.933 --> 00:03:29.646 That's not happening.
00:03:29.646 --> 00:03:50.979 That's a decline of civility or civilization like x formerly twitter, facebook reward outraged vision and make civil discussion less common.
00:03:50.979 --> 00:03:52.562 It's in a flash.
00:03:52.562 --> 00:03:56.631 Your kids see it, you see it and you believe it.
00:03:56.631 --> 00:03:58.054 Your, your parents see it.
00:03:58.054 --> 00:04:00.663 And if you see it, it must be true.
00:04:00.663 --> 00:04:03.388 If you read it on, seen it on the internet must be true.
00:04:03.388 --> 00:04:05.570 If you read it on, seen it on the internet must be true.
00:04:05.570 --> 00:04:09.015 I remember in the late 90s, david, early 2000s, I saw it on the web.
00:04:09.015 --> 00:04:17.250 Okay, it's the web, right, you know what's the truth there and here we are trading news on the web.
00:04:17.930 --> 00:04:25.663 Hyperpartisanship Definitely not adding to civility, definitely not adding to civility.
00:04:25.663 --> 00:04:35.963 And the media polarizing the ideological, reinforcing the division rather than fostering a dialogue, which you know, dave.
00:04:35.963 --> 00:04:40.033 I'm about to invoke the Walter Cronkite theory.
00:04:40.033 --> 00:04:53.279 You got to have both sides, or you can't give an opinion because you're just regurgitating someone else's opinion, and it's the erosion of the institution.
00:04:53.279 --> 00:05:03.971 It's the erosion of civilization, it's the erosion of democracy, and Elon Musk coined it's a bureaucracy if it's not a democracy.
00:05:03.971 --> 00:05:13.350 And the Democrats, who claim to be democratic, seem to want to enforce bureaucracy, not democracy.
00:05:13.350 --> 00:05:21.312 But that's my opinion and I'm basing it off of their rallying in the streets to say don't cut senseless pork.
00:05:21.312 --> 00:05:27.353 But I remember Obama being elected, that he was going to do just that.
00:05:27.353 --> 00:05:30.569 Bill Clinton got elected to do just that.
00:05:30.569 --> 00:05:38.165 Yet the Clintons walked out with the White House, china and Obama walked out and scored a $27 million house.
00:05:39.726 --> 00:05:52.043 It's the erosion of the institution, and trust in government has declined, leading to an increased popularity of inflammatory rhetoric.
00:05:52.043 --> 00:05:57.211 You know there's consequences to incivility.
00:05:57.211 --> 00:06:10.622 When incivility, when civility breaks down, democracy suffers Gridlock in Congress and the House, a rise in political violence and threats.
00:06:10.622 --> 00:06:16.533 Man, you try to shoot a president twice, but the left didn't condone it.
00:06:16.533 --> 00:06:20.903 But now they're saying we should have war in the streets.
00:06:20.903 --> 00:06:31.101 These charlatans who claim to be representing ethnic groups are just that charlatans.
00:06:31.101 --> 00:06:37.233 It's a political violence offered by what I'm going to call a public official.
00:06:38.019 --> 00:06:52.786 Now congressmen and senators are excluded from being charged for rising to this occasion, but you as a civilian are not, and the electoral leaders know this.
00:06:52.786 --> 00:07:00.504 They are toxic to their participants, they are toxic to society, they are toxic to civility.
00:07:00.504 --> 00:07:12.750 Incivility fuels this distrust, makes it harder for society to tackle critical-like issues like economic reform, health care, climate change.
00:07:12.750 --> 00:07:27.052 My word, you can be Canadian booing an American national anthem and I can be booing a Canadian national anthem, but we still have to have health and we still have to care about the environment.
00:07:27.052 --> 00:07:30.855 That doesn't mean it's an all or nothing, hate or kill.
00:07:30.855 --> 00:07:35.891 So civility, how do you restore this, david?
00:07:40.930 --> 00:07:43.689 You have to reject extremism.
00:07:43.689 --> 00:07:46.627 How about social media reform?
00:07:46.627 --> 00:07:57.334 It's a personal responsibility and, david, I thank you for taking me personal responsibility for what happened yesterday or the other day.
00:07:57.334 --> 00:08:00.249 But isn't it amazing?
00:08:00.249 --> 00:08:09.093 Have you heard any politician from either side present any civility towards one another?
00:08:09.553 --> 00:08:09.954 Oh, hell, no.
00:08:09.954 --> 00:08:14.970 And let's be real, because civility doesn't exist in politics.
00:08:14.970 --> 00:08:27.971 It's pretend there's protocol and you know, stuart, it's really funny because in a parliamentary system, for example in Canada, you cannot address the person at the other side of the aisle by name.
00:08:27.971 --> 00:08:32.145 You know the honourable member, you know that's the civility, right?
00:08:32.145 --> 00:08:41.812 But when Pyotr Polyev called Justin Trudeau a wacko in parliament, he was cited and actually expelled from parliament because it was not civil.
00:08:41.812 --> 00:08:48.183 And I mean the backlash towards the, towards the speaker, was that was a partisan shot, that was he wouldn't that.
00:08:48.183 --> 00:09:00.461 He has to be balanced and I think that this is what's what's going on right now in society is that we've accepted a lack of civility as a form of rebelliousness, as a form of opposition.
00:09:00.461 --> 00:09:13.076 And when you make statements like Chuck Schumer did, where he blamed Donald Trump for the plane crash in Toronto, where is the civility in that area?
00:09:13.076 --> 00:09:20.726 Where's the civility for the people who went out and decided that Israel is to be blamed and Jews can be?
00:09:20.726 --> 00:09:22.964 Their anti-Semitism in the streets are okay, whatever.
00:09:22.964 --> 00:09:24.750 There's no civility.
00:09:24.750 --> 00:09:29.062 Allowing violence to be your form of opposition.
00:09:29.062 --> 00:09:32.508 There's no civility, there's no discourse, there's no conversation.
00:09:33.042 --> 00:09:37.125 What you said about the anthem, stuart, is exactly.
00:09:37.125 --> 00:09:37.908 You know, you're right.
00:09:37.908 --> 00:09:41.767 Montreal, they booed the national anthem in both games.
00:09:41.767 --> 00:09:46.583 What do the people in Boston do on Monday afternoon?
00:09:46.583 --> 00:09:48.688 Boo, the Canadian national anthem.
00:09:48.688 --> 00:09:50.471 It's not civility.
00:09:50.471 --> 00:09:54.265 And you know what, stuart, I don't expect it anymore, and that's the problem.
00:09:54.265 --> 00:09:57.952 What I expect is a lack of civility, childishness.
00:09:57.952 --> 00:09:58.673 You know.
00:09:58.673 --> 00:10:01.726 And I'm not saying that the republicans are much better.
00:10:01.726 --> 00:10:04.139 I've heard enough stupid comments from that end.
00:10:05.101 --> 00:10:13.703 The problem becomes this what we've seen today, accepting in society, you know when I, when I, when I, I'll actually backtrack before I even get into that.
00:10:13.703 --> 00:10:15.828 My wife used to tell me it was really funny.
00:10:15.828 --> 00:10:26.248 She goes we should be going back to the Cosby show, because in the Cosby show, look how civil they were, look how they acted, look how a family should talk to each other.
00:10:26.248 --> 00:10:29.008 Well, let me tell you something.
00:10:29.008 --> 00:10:32.388 Father Knows Best TV shows and all that kind of crap.
00:10:32.388 --> 00:10:33.831 Give me a break.
00:10:34.259 --> 00:10:35.826 There was no civility there.
00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:40.764 We've seen that we don't know how to respect each other.
00:10:40.764 --> 00:10:45.544 You could say something and I could disagree, and rather than saying you know what, let's agree to disagree.
00:10:45.544 --> 00:10:46.967 You freak out.
00:10:46.967 --> 00:10:50.159 Okay, and I'll tell you something I've seen.
00:10:50.159 --> 00:11:01.068 I had it happen to me last summer when a member of my family lost her mind because I thought she was wrong about DEI and she absolutely lost.
00:11:01.068 --> 00:11:08.806 And when my wife who's civil, she's my civil code, she's my counterbalance said well, let's agree to disagree.
00:11:08.806 --> 00:11:09.889 That wasn't good.
00:11:10.923 --> 00:11:21.466 And this is what's happened in society today, stuart, and really what it comes down to is, if you show civility, it's a sign of weakness because you can't be civil.
00:11:21.466 --> 00:11:24.273 Because we pretended, we pretended here.
00:11:24.273 --> 00:11:26.043 Joe Biden pretended to be civil.
00:11:26.043 --> 00:11:26.764 He was an asshole.
00:11:26.764 --> 00:11:30.682 Obama pretended to be civil and that was his aura.
00:11:30.682 --> 00:11:33.907 Ok, his aura is, look at this, a civil guy.
00:11:33.907 --> 00:11:35.009 Whatever, he was an asshole.
00:11:35.750 --> 00:11:40.567 The realities that people want when they want to be civil, they know how to be civil.
00:11:40.567 --> 00:11:49.049 Until you disagree with them and we have no longer accepting opinion and we wrap ourselves around the let's a.
00:11:49.049 --> 00:11:49.870 It's free speech.
00:11:49.870 --> 00:11:51.480 I could say whatever I want.
00:11:51.480 --> 00:11:55.462 You still can't screen fire in a theater, you still.
00:11:55.462 --> 00:12:01.645 There's still a line of hate, but you know, but that's it.
00:12:01.645 --> 00:12:09.150 We have accepted in our society that being an asshole that's okay, as long as you don't do it to me.
00:12:09.150 --> 00:12:13.073 If I do it, it's okay, but if you do it, it's not okay.
00:12:14.475 --> 00:12:19.317 I have no idea how to turn this around, my friend, but we are seeing it in media.
00:12:19.317 --> 00:12:21.298 I'll give you Margaret Brennan, for example.
00:12:21.298 --> 00:12:22.600 Look what she did right.
00:12:22.600 --> 00:12:26.503 She absolutely misrepresented.
00:12:26.503 --> 00:12:28.667 I don't know if you heard this thing.
00:12:28.667 --> 00:12:34.119 She said that free speech was abused in Nazi Germany and hence the Holocaust.
00:12:34.119 --> 00:12:34.586 And we're like.
00:12:35.589 --> 00:12:36.952 Even Marco Rubio called her out going.
00:12:36.952 --> 00:12:38.176 What are you talking about?
00:12:38.176 --> 00:12:39.731 That is the most idiotic thing.
00:12:39.731 --> 00:12:41.491 Did she apologize for her mistake?
00:12:41.491 --> 00:12:42.806 Did she go out?
00:12:42.806 --> 00:12:44.326 Did she say anything no?
00:12:44.326 --> 00:12:45.168 Did she apologize for her mistake?
00:12:45.168 --> 00:12:45.567 Did she go out?
00:12:45.567 --> 00:12:46.168 Did she say anything no?
00:12:46.168 --> 00:13:05.510 When you watch CNN and MSNBC make remarks about the right that are off the ledge Now, by the way, let me ask you a question Are the Democrats being civil about the fact that they got their hands caught in the cookie jar, or are they attacking Elon Musk's personality Instead?
00:13:05.510 --> 00:13:08.087 This is where civility my friend has gone out the window.
00:13:08.087 --> 00:13:12.807 Speaking of civility, we turn off the phones when we have a conversation.
00:13:12.807 --> 00:13:16.375 No, but, stuart, I'll ask you this question, right?
00:13:16.375 --> 00:13:16.996 What do you?
00:13:16.996 --> 00:13:18.046 How do you turn this around?
00:13:19.067 --> 00:13:25.096 You know the only way that you know.
00:13:25.096 --> 00:13:28.160 Civility in politics isn't just about being polite.
00:13:28.160 --> 00:13:33.037 It's about ensuring democracy functions effectively.
00:13:38.253 --> 00:13:42.220 I think that civility in politics is not about democracy.
00:13:42.220 --> 00:13:45.511 Ok, we expect our politicians.
00:13:45.511 --> 00:13:47.284 It's funny, especially in the US.
00:13:47.284 --> 00:13:53.649 You go through these crazy hearings, you do background checks, you offend the living crap out of people, right?
00:13:53.649 --> 00:13:56.937 And then I mean it doesn't make a difference whether you're right or wrong.
00:13:56.937 --> 00:14:00.052 First thing is there are no facts right.
00:14:00.052 --> 00:14:02.566 Look how they attacked RFK, tulsi Gabbard.
00:14:02.566 --> 00:14:05.832 You're going to tell me that's civility, that's a democracy.
00:14:05.974 --> 00:14:11.384 Right, but the only way you're going to get there isn't just about being polite.
00:14:11.384 --> 00:14:22.009 If we want leaders to act with respect, you have to demand it, you have to engage in conversation, challenge ideas without attacking people, ideas without attacking people.
00:14:22.009 --> 00:14:26.673 And remember, it thrives when we listen and speak.
00:14:26.673 --> 00:14:35.178 David, I don't want to just, you know, let this just close it out and say, okay, we discuss ability, we discuss politics.
00:14:35.178 --> 00:14:38.160 You know again, there are two.
00:14:38.160 --> 00:14:39.861 There's several types of relationships.
00:14:39.861 --> 00:14:51.052 They involve a giver, they involve a taker, and the best relationship is where one is always giving and the other one's always taking.
00:14:51.052 --> 00:14:59.719 This is like an old adage that I'm sure many of you have heard, and where you have the best relationships are not necessarily best for you.
00:14:59.719 --> 00:15:03.572 David, I believe you and I are give and take.
00:15:03.572 --> 00:15:18.544 I've offended you plenty over the years by making fun of you and ridiculing you, but you know what, david, in our case, we do it to demonstrate, to show yeah but I take it also in good, but I take it also for where it comes from.
00:15:18.966 --> 00:15:20.408 I know where it comes from.
00:15:20.408 --> 00:15:25.599 The problem is, stuart, is, is, and I think we've all gone, we've all been there.
00:15:25.599 --> 00:15:39.424 You know, when I wear this, folks, I'm making a statement quietly, but I gotta tell you how many people have made rude, absolutely obnoxious remarks to me, strangers, over this, and I'm like where's this?
00:15:39.424 --> 00:15:41.089 Like this is civility.
00:15:41.089 --> 00:15:43.855 I'm wearing this because there's still some 70-odd.
00:15:43.855 --> 00:15:48.205 I say people, bodies, whatever is left, okay.
00:15:48.544 --> 00:16:08.471 And when Hamas plays with people's minds, when people are not disgusted by the fact that the three men who were released a couple of weeks ago looked emaciated that there's still a baby and a toddler still there and for all we know they're dead, okay, and where's the humanity?
00:16:08.471 --> 00:16:10.874 Where's the civility Done?
00:16:10.874 --> 00:16:12.951 And we've accepted that as normal.
00:16:12.951 --> 00:16:15.613 That's where I'm really struggling.
00:16:15.613 --> 00:16:25.599 So if you want to pick on me and you want to call me a jerk, or you want to make fun of my headphones, or you want to talk about the fact that I live in Canada and I'm snowed in, I don't really care.
00:16:25.599 --> 00:16:29.432 That's jostling between two friends.
00:16:29.432 --> 00:16:35.750 But when there's a line and people continue to cross the line saying I can do whatever I want, you can't.
00:16:35.750 --> 00:16:37.648 That's where we're.
00:16:37.648 --> 00:16:38.812 You got to stop that.
00:16:38.812 --> 00:16:40.129 We just got to stop that.
00:16:40.129 --> 00:16:48.107 And when we stop that, when we recognize, stuart, that we've gone over that line, maybe we have a chance.
00:16:48.107 --> 00:16:51.455 Maybe we have a chance at going back to some civility.
00:16:51.455 --> 00:16:59.866 But when our leaders do not respect each other, I want to tell you something funny, stuart, and I'd like to wrap up with this and I'll give you the last word on this one.
00:16:59.907 --> 00:17:07.097 But what is the one thing after a hockey playoff series that happens?
00:17:07.097 --> 00:17:10.689 You could beat the crap out of each other on the ice.
00:17:10.689 --> 00:17:12.471 You could boo the national anthems.
00:17:12.471 --> 00:17:17.655 Okay, on thursday, canada and the united states are going to play in boston in the finals.
00:17:17.655 --> 00:17:19.925 They'll boo the canadian national anthem.
00:17:19.925 --> 00:17:21.268 They'll hit each other.
00:17:21.268 --> 00:17:23.211 They punch the crap out of each other.
00:17:23.211 --> 00:17:26.897 You know what they're going to do when that game is over, though, stewart, yep, what?
00:17:28.121 --> 00:17:32.891 they're gonna slap the hands and shake the hands everybody.
00:17:33.392 --> 00:17:52.959 That's the respect that they have for each other, that, despite all of their disagreements, on the ice, the hype, the game, the flag, the whatever, even in a regular, even in the regular NHL, after the playoff, after every playoff series, even at the Stanley Cup finals, they shake hands.
00:17:52.959 --> 00:17:55.569 We need to take that approach in life.
00:17:55.569 --> 00:18:00.888 We could disagree, we could fight, but when it's over we shake hands and respect the opponent.
00:18:00.888 --> 00:18:01.990 Last word to you, my friend.
00:18:03.314 --> 00:18:09.373 You know, my last word is we've taken too much time, david, we gotta go.
00:18:10.286 --> 00:18:13.027 Alright, well, sort of decided for us when we're gonna go.
00:18:13.027 --> 00:18:14.190 Guys, we'll see you on Friday.
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