Definition of Civility

On April 4th, 2007 radio shock jock Don Imus, began discussing the NCAA Woman’s Basketball Championships. During the show Imus characterized the Rutgers University woman’s basketball team players as “rough girls” commenting on their tattoos. He even went as far to call them “nappy-headed hoes.” “What has society come to that anything is acceptable today?” (Vivian Stringer, coach of the Rutgers women Scarlet Knights as reported by CNN news). This is a prime example of how our current society feels that statements like these in the media are “tolerated”. But for many, such as Don Imus, who use shock radio as their profession, to be told that they cannot say whatever they want on the radio. Language used by the media has a huge effect on our society. What is civility? How do you define a word that as so many different meanings? The word civility is generally classified as a behavior that people posses. Civility is a behavior that is distinguished through respect, cooperation and empathy. These are the main trigger words that I think of when asked, “What is Civility.”

The word Civility has been a frequent “catchword” used by the media repeatedly in the past decade. It takes shape in many different forms from politics to celebrities, to talk shows. When it comes to the media, the Word “Civility and Incivility” are thrown around by public moralists looking to put an end to the rudeness and disrespect seen in the twenty first century. In this day and age it is more common to see what is deemed uncivil behavior through the media. When I think of civility I think of mutual respect towards others. When examining the example of Don Imus; there is no way that his action promoted respectfulness towards the Rutgers woman’s basketball team. What would have been more respectful would have been congratulating the woman on a successful season of college basketball. Therefore Don Imus does not promote one of the main behaviors of civility; respectfulness.

The second behavior associated with civility is cooperation. This behavior is taught at a very young age across the world. In order to successfully live in this society we have to cooperate with everything and everyone around us. This cooperation is found through Mother Nature, to adolescents to adults and in Don Imus’s case with the media. We live in a society where we are all interconnected, especially with today’s technological advances, therefore harmonizing and coming to consensuses promotes cooperation.