Civility — Or Else!

Civilityclip

I was listening to George Lakoff on the radio this morning talking about the right wing exploitation of language. Frankly, I was shocked how circumlocutious he was. I thought, if Lakoff himself can’t put his arguments in a crisp package, we are in trouble.

Which brings me to my main point, which is how Rove manages to use the (so-called liberal) media as his own personal instrument of persuasion, Let’s look at this morning’s NYT front page as an example.

Here we are on Day 1 of the White House’s combined “Hello Mr. Roberts/Forget About Karl” campaign, and what does the paper do? They use their headline to directly quote (and thus propagate) the key memes (these used to be called “metaphors”) Karl wishes to embed to underpin the nomination process and cripple any opposition. (Quotation marks in blue.)

Rove must have woken up this morning, checked the NYT, then looked in the mirror and told himself (for the umpteenth time) what a genius he is. Listening to NPR today, that was the key word the Repubs were sprinkling around to smooth the path for Mr. Tabula Rasa. I must have heard it at least four or five times (until, by the afternoon, the commentators were using it):

“CIVILITY”

As in: The Democrats (as part of the Gang of Fourteen) agreed to act reasonably (meaning, not filibuster) as long as a reasonable candidate was put forth. We Repubs are just replacing the term “reasonable” with “civil.”

As in, Mr. Roberts is a civil man, so to question his qualifications would be an attack on civility. (And an attack on civility would be tantamount to an attack on patriotism, because — in this time of war — any threat to civility must be considered a potential act of “civil disobedience.”)

And: We will be referring almost continually to “civility” for the next week or so, while mixing in various synonyms (such as: consideration, decency, geniality and respectfulness) to avoid redundancy. It will sound like we are simply appealing for civility, but, in fact, we actually will be insisting on it. You might want to keep in mind, however, that while we make reference to “civility,” it is always in a context that connotes “compliance.”

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First Impressions

The Worst Day

Dennis Quaranta

The local tabloids are presenting this guy as though he’s carved out of old-fashioned granite. He’s “rock solid,” they say. Well, let’s see how Mr. Straight Talk answers a direct question about Roe v. Wade. “Judge Roberts, do you think Roe is good law; and if not, will you vote to overturn it?”
My guess is that his answer will se so full of twists and turns that the average person won’t know what he said after he’s finished speaking. So much for being carved out of old fashioned granite.
Quentin

In the context of character ‘civil’ is a favorite Bush Gang buzzword. In this sense it actually only means ‘polite’ or something like that, which they don’t seem to realize. In the sense of civilized no one would readily use the word ‘civil’. ‘Civility’ is a kind of genteelism for ‘good behavior’, etc., favored by the gentry, like the Bushs, and their lesser imitators. The notion resonates class, non-urban setting and impeccable breeding. That coming from Bush can only give you an ulcer. Calling someone incivil is the ultimate civil put-down among HIS people. Bush also cited Roberts smalltown youth, as if he grew up as an average, all-American Joe Schmo: he lived in an affluent suburb on the shore of Lake Michigan, his father was an executive in Bethlehem Steel and he went to a private school with a French name. Nothing wrong with that, but it just goes to show what a deceptive crock of shit Bush peddles. So that’s what it takes to become civil in smalltown U.S.A. Of course, the faith part obviously does not refer to any veneration Roberts might give to Vishnu or Allah or the spirits of Siberian shamans.
PTate in MN

I wonder if “civility” is just an update on the 70s refrain of “law and order”.
It soothes the Republican base. It is fascinating how much conservatives evoke the spectre of the negative emotions: anger, disgust and fear. But they can’t say, “Don’t be wild-eyed angry at us for trying to overturn Roe v Wade.” So instead they put on the positive face of “civility”.
Quentin

In my above comment read ‘uncivil’ for ‘incivil’. What a day: rainy, windy, only 60 degrees and civility everywhere you look. Bush is in fact a good, old-fashioned ordinary SNOB. He camouflages it with his Joe Shmo act. He takes very much after his mommy. Right, PTate in MN, the notion soothes the hysterical base: well put.
jonst

My take is “civility” means don’t have passion when you fight us. Play by our rules…one of which is never call a spade a spade when WE are the spades.
And boy are the Dems ‘civil’ if nothing else.
Steven

Why would Karl Rove need to tell himself he is a genius when liberal commentators constantly outright say it and credit him with everything occurring in the world.
The headline put the comment in quotes which means that is what someone else said, it does not mean they believe it. In fact by putting it in qoutes they highlight the comment and distance themselves from it. By the way the front page of any newspaper, whether liberal or conservative, is supposed to report the news not comment on it. Hence the article starts by reporting what was said by the most important leader in the free world (whether you like him or not).
As a point of information, the media, specifically the NY TImes, is considered liberal because of the editorial bent of the paper which sadly from time to time creeps into articles that should report but in fact include opinion.
bob crane

Steven,
yes the nyt does seem to include lots of ‘fiction’ in its reporting, judith millers articles in particular. that’s the ‘civility’ this administration is talking about and admires sooooooo #%*!’in much.
…not much liberal about it though, except maybe liberal about verifing it’s pro-administration sources.
http://www.woodka.com donna

Then I think the Dems should definitely be “fair and civil” as they grill Roberts mercilessly for, oh say, 12 oe 14 hours straight… and then bring in a fresh crew to do it the next day and the next and the next, until he cracks wide open….
MonsieurGonzo

MISPRISION : Concealment, neglect of. (French, mépris.)
Misprision of clerks. Mistakes in accounts arising from neglect.
Misprision of felony. Neglecting to reveal a felony when known.
misprision of treason. Neglecting to disclose or purposely concealing a treasonable design.
sorry. what were we talking about, before we were so rudely interrupted? ^_^
patricia kovara

i’m new to the blogging world – which is where i now get my news – other sources have ceased to inform me. but blogging seems to come with it’s own forms of dysfunction…vituperative proselytizing..both left and right and anything in between.
being a hard core poli-sci major we went out into the streets to get our person elected and make ourselves heard in the community.
now you just need to be a internet/blogger junkie and i guess you think somehow you’re going to change the world via the keyboard.
we are a lazy political people, the u.s. that is…so the internet fits nicely into the syndrome. you don’t even have to leave your house to protest.
watergate/oliver north/regan???? gosh wouldn’t it be nice if things were that uncomplicated now?
thanks for your time – patricia kovara
jonst

Hey Patricia……
“watergate/oliver north/regan???? gosh wouldn’t it be nice if things were that uncomplicated now”…
Being a “hard core poli-sci major” perhaps you were unaware that the things you note were NOT “umcomplicated”! Compared to today…or any time. Perhaps you might try coming in from the street, and reading about them on the Internet and you will see what I mean.
George Myers

Civility and law. A woman sued (for an undisclosed amount) for being branded by a hot “manhole” owned by Con-Edison in NYC, apparently on the buttock and arm. I was reading Charles Reich’s “Sorcerer of Bolinas Reef” (that is until I heard my bag would be searched, so now I’m on the subway with a mini-computer bag. Living near to the Muslim Center of the Bronx, its on Rhinelander, off White Plains, a former CWA, Communication Workers of America “union hall”, I expected a gazillion cops…none. Once upon a time there were many halls in Manhattan, one Germania Hall, torn down last week along with 295 Bowery, Kate Millet’s home of 38 years, was where Kate Mullaney, sitting next to Susan B. Anthony, she on our “old” $1 coin, was the first woman elected to union management, she had organized the collar workers in Troy, NY. Cleaned collars allowed “white collar” workers to wear the same shirt again) the former Yale professor and author of “The Greening of America” who was once Justice Hugo Black’s law clerk, and I wonder if Bush’s tush is branded by the “Skull and Bones” fraternity there as reported wouldn’t it be better to have a Sinfonian in the White House, like George B. Cortelyou was, under McKinley and Roosevelt, the once former CEO of COnEdison after his government service?
http://greenimagination.blogspot.com Daniel Waldman

Don’t count on George Lakoff to be succinct. He’s a linguist, and linguists surprisingly have a lot of difficulties putting things into plain language.
John G. Fought

Lakoff is nothing special. His thinking is (still) shallow, cluttered, and derivative. He didn’t come up with the framing idea. Look at the work of the late Erving Goffman, most accessible in The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, a brilliant short book, and Frame Analysis, a long, much more difficult one. Or take my word for it: you can’t rejigger people’s thinking by tinkering with a few catchphrases. Getting them to buy your brand of soap is hard enough: getting them to change their political, religious, or racial beliefs is a lot harder. If it weren’t, we’d all have voted for Bush.