Musings at Altitude

The newswires were all abuzz yesterday about the microphone grabbing interruption of a thank you speech being given by a recording artist who won “best female music video”.  The microphone was grabbed by another artist who believed that someone else should have won that award.  The world seemed shocked by the behavior, and the criticism rained down on the interrupting artist from a myriad of sources.  The artist, of course, then proceeded to apologize profusely for his behavior, either fully realizing his actions were highly inappropriate or thoroughly understanding that he needed to quickly respond in a way to limit any damage to his already less-than-stellar reputation.

What surprises me is that the media and the public at large are aghast at such behavior, when those very actions are seemingly the norm right now.  In the past few days, we’ve had a Congressman belt out “you lie” at our President.  We’ve had a tennis superstar berate a line judge and threaten to “shove this $%&#^%# ball down your $%&#^%# throat”.  We’ve had a pro quarterback stand over a player lying on the ground and taunt him.  We’ve had a projected high draft pick in next year’s football draft completely lose it and punch out a fellow player after a game and then go after the fans as he was exiting the field.  We’ve had shouting and loud protesting at most town hall meetings across this country.

Today, we should be aghast when celebrities and star athletes respond with grace and humility.  Maybe that’s the news today, rather than the uncivil acts of those we might otherwise hold in high regard.

And it’s not just limited to high profile people.  Meetings today are emotionally charged, civil discussions have been replaced with a desperate desire to be heard and a crescendoing volume in conversation as other ideas may be considered that might be a better path than the one that is being argued for.  Interruptions are quite usual today, as any pause for breath by the one talking provides that much needed opening for the higher volume debaters to break in and get their points across.

A couple of decades ago, I was introduced to a concept of constructive dissent which obviously meant that any dissent that would be voiced would actually be used in a constructive way to get to a better answer.  But today, it’s apparent that lots of people feel think “loud” makes it constructive and “abusive” makes it relevant.

A Swedish proverb says, “fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; love more and all good things will be yours.”

We could all learn from that.

It’s time for civility.