Regarding this 'Culture of Vitriolic, Damning Rhetoric'

“When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government—the anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous,” said Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, an elected Democrat, at a news conference Saturday evening. “And unfortunately, Arizona, I think, has become the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry.”

I always find it fascinating when you get synchronicity, when commonality surfaces, when there's some kind of societal alignment going on. Especially when I find myself sparked to swim around in the churning waters, examine what's roiling about, attempt to draw out what's most discernible...and some things that might not at all be to others, but sure are to me.

I've been asked on occasion how the society I'm yammering-on about wanting to create (one where there's an increased relationship of engagement between residents and their politicians, specifically in local governance) could be created. What has to be done. What behaviours would have to change.

The answers to these questions- Well, I haven't managed to come up with them all yet. But I do know that there's not one thing on its own that would accomplish the paradigm shift, the migration of value system required to see this 'involved' profile of citizenry. I do know that there are many, many pieces to the puzzle.

And I do know what some of the attributes of this new paradigm would be. And they all fall under the banner of 'civility'.

Respect is probably at the core of civility, respect on so many different levels. Respect of self, of family, of neighbours, of neighbourhoods, of community. This alone would mean a ton of simple things. No litter. No dumping of rubbish. No abandonment of properties. A 'helping hand' would be the default gesture, not the exception.

Ah, civility. The stuff that we seem to have lost connection with.

Before I get to a gem I found in Comments section today, I wanted to take a quick look at why it is that civility seems to have been eroded so much over however-many-years-you-wish-to-suggest.

-The materialism that binds us. To me, the desire to acquire sets up a bulwark against seeing outward...which is a foundation of civility.

-The trend of 'entitlement' that blinds us. Best summed-up by 'Me, me, me!'

-The notion of 'progress' being so willfully connected to 'things being different from before'. It's a tough concept for some to envision, that there are elements of 'times gone by' that actually reveal a regression in today's world. I guess it's arrogance, this belief that we live in the greatest possible time humankind's ever found itself in.

-The fact that we live in 'uncertain' times. I came across a quote recently: 'Forgiveness is hiding behind the fear'. If you're fearful, if you're frustrated, if you're angry...how can you be forgiving? How can you be civil?

Here's the post I found. Granted, it's addressing the current situation in the U.S., but I believe there's lots there for all of us to learn from...especially the commenter's final point.

There are a few things we all need to learn:

1. The right wing people are NOT totalitarian OCD control freaks looking to dominate every aspect of our lives.
2. The left wing people are NOT socialist, communist, Marxist, control freaks looking to dominate every aspect of our lives.
3. You can't take back your country when you ALREADY HAVE IT.
4. STOP DEMONIZING YOUR OPPONENTS!!!! I'm tired of hearing my left and right wing friends and family members trying to make it sound like their political opposites are the baby-eating Bishop of Bath and Wells! And yeah, Hitler. Every body equates everyone else to Hitler. I'M SICK OF IT!!!!!! I've actually listened to my liberal friends and they're not actually socialists or communists, and I've listened to my right wing friends and they are not actually trying to dominate every aspect of our religious and personal lives. I can't say the same about these TV pundits, but the real people that I know personally don't fit into these stereotypes (thought they seem to believe what the pundits are saying about the opposition).

If we can just learn to agree to disagree without getting pissed off at each other, then the political climate in this country will vastly improve.

The Dangers of Expedient, Self-serving Conflation

This past weekend's shooting tragedy in Tucson, Arizona has kicked The Conflation Machinery into high gear. No surprise there. But it's still sad, because it's actually being fueled by one of the elements being conflated.

Jared Lee Loughner opened fire at an outdoor 'town hall' meeting in a Safeway parking lot. Nineteen people were shot, six were killed. Representative Gabreille Giffords, critically wounded by a bullet to the head, seems to have been the primary target, so the term 'attempted assassination' has been used in news reports and editorials.

The conflation started when the question 'Why?' began being asked.

As of the time of this post's writing, Loughner is, at the very least, 'mentally disturbed'. After a proper psychiatric evaluation, it may well be that he suffers from a variety of substantial ailments.

Given this, does it make any sense to lay so much blame for this event on the behaviour of the Sarah Palins, the Sharon Angles, the Michele Bachmanns, the Glenn Becks, etc?

Make no mistake about it: there is a culture of vilification, of intolerance present in the US (not just in the political arena, but in everyday life) that is troubling. So troubling that the sheriff of Tucson had some very pointed things to say about it at the initial press conference. And it would be ill-advised to deny that Mr. Loughner would not have been, at the very least, affected by this pervasive poison.

But as much as I agree that this is in fact the state of affairs that's been created in our modern society...nothing more than a manifestation of the 'Us vs Them' mindset I see all the time, everywhere, even within our PanAm Games stadium site selection process...it worries me that conflation will prevent not only the question 'Why?' from being properly answered, but will prevent others from even being asked. It worries me that in the rush to get more participants onto the playing field (battlefield?) between 'right' and 'left', a desire for genuine understanding will be muzzled.

Jared Lee Loughner is a troubled young man.

Today's politics and media foment notions of combative rhetoric, of extreme actions.

People today seem more driven to vent and to judge and to damn than they are to seek out comprehension, to construct informed, qualified opinions in order to generate sincere consensus.

All of these suggestions are valid and deserving of our energies to remedy.

As a society, we need to have a better understanding of mental illness, remove the stigmas, have better mechanisms in place to deal with those who require attention.

As a society, we need to have a better understanding of the political process, of the framework within which we live, so that disinformation and fomenting are simply not effective.

As a society, we need to have a better understanding of how we can better deal with the anger, the fear, the frustrations with which modern life is so rife, so that we're better equipped to engage, to converse, to generate sincere consensus.

But when The Conflation Machinery is revving as high as it currently is, I mostly worry that too, too much will be sacrificed, and that in the end, the situation will have been made worse.

Leading to me wonder 'If we don't deal with these issues on their own, acknowledge the importance of addressing them independently while conceding their interconnectivity, if we allow The Conflation Machinery to hold sway, just how bad is this all going to get?'

More on this to follow.

Something found online

I came across a site as a result of a news item I chanced upon. It's called 'Lethbridge Accountability', and it was set up as a means of improving-

Well, the site itself says it best:

Lethbridge Accountability is issue driven and designed to provide "one stop shopping" for voters who want to make informed decisions on issues that matter to them.

It was inspired by the Lethbridge Skateboard Association's page that details candidate positions on new skateboard facilities. Lots of positive feedback about that feature led to discussions with Elect Lethbridge and the decision was made to launch a brand new site. By expanding the scope to encompass all issues facing our city we hope to provide a valuable service to the people of Lethbridge.

Given my passion for increasing the relationship of engagement between citizenry and their Council, what interested me the most was the section 'Communication Between Citizens and Council'. In it, candidates respond to the question 'What is your position on communication between citizens and council?'

I'd be curious to know what efforts are in play to generate engagement from the other side of the equation, from the residents' side.

As I find out more, I'll post accordingly.