Oftentimes, political activities are anything but civil, these days. Whether it be debates, campaign ads, or social media posts, civility is not the first thing that comes to mind when reflecting on them. However, I have a personal experience that changed my views on how politics CAN be civil. I did a mock campaign with my Political Communication class last semester, where I ran against another candidate chosen from the class. We were competing on how to make our major, Socio-Political Communication, better. The culmination of the campaign was to participate in a debate on campus. While it might not be legitimized politics, it still exhibits a use of civility when debating an opponent.
I went in pretty nervous for the debate. I have watched my fair share of presidential/political debates, and I am not the attacking type. That was my perception of political debates: attack the other opponent and their views. I didn’t want to do that nor did I think it would help me win. As the debate proceeded, I was pleasantly surprised that what happened was the exact opposite of what I imagined. As our professor, Dr. Dudash-Buskirk (if you are on this page you probably know who she is), asked us questions about our stances and platform ideas, we each respectively listened to one another. We did not interrupt one another, make impolite nonverbal expressions, or attack each other. I sat there and listened to their platform and the ideas they had spent the whole semester working on. I agreed with my opponent when she was right and respectfully proposed my opposing view when I did not agree. The other candidate did the same for me. It wasn’t that we didn’t have the passion to defend our points, we did. We expressed ourselves with courage while also respecting one another’s views. We disagreed, but we did not attack each other. We took a moment to be attentive and actually listen, not just pretend.
It was an amazing experience that actually shifted my views of how politics can play out, even if we weren’t actual politicians and the debate was not set up the exact same. I believe today’s politics need an extreme makeover (had to throw in my campaign slogan). It is possible to have a debate or opposing campaign than someone and still respect the individual. It is possible to listen to them and even agree on some points! We are so focused, as a nation, on being the exact opposite of our opponents that we forget that we have common ground. This is how gridlock happens and ignorant decisions are made-when we don’t care what happens as long as it is contradictory to what our opponent wants. Republican versus Democrat. Conservative versus Liberal. That is all that seems to matter anymore. With this organization and these tenets, a difference can be made. Where are some areas in politics that you think could use a huge makeover in civility?
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