The Power of Civility

The Joe Wilson 'You Lie' controversy has generated a rash of responses. Shouting to interrupt a civil process is a form of values based bullying, because it is an attempt to break from an ethical framework for discourse into a free for all of values butting heads. The most common choice of words in admonishment has been 'civility', and this choice of words is a good measure of the choice of ethics over values when arbitrating differences in the public space. Manners at the dinner table and civility in a public forum are degrees of ethical behavior critical to sustainable multilateral coexistance of different values without unilateral escalation of incivility to the point of violence. Admonishing incivility is an appropriate multilateral process and ethical framework for arbitrating differences and defusing bullies.