On February 1st, 2017 riots broke out on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley. It was a brawl waiting to happen. The night pitted a self-described right wing provocateur, Milo Yiannopoulos, and his band of merry Trump supporters against 1,500 protesters known as Anti-Fa (short for Anti-Fascists) and the group known as By Any Means Necessary. Protesters started fires, threw fireworks at the building, attacked members of the crowd, and threw rocks at the police who were guarding the speaker. They successfully shut down the event, but the violence only moved towards the streets where protesters destroyed the windows of several businesses, causing $100,000 worth of damage. This event has been the highlight and pinnacle of the
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Civility, in the first sense of the word, is perhaps not supposed to be polite and courteous. Democracy and the functioning of a representative state can certainly get ugly. For example, the recent Oklahoma teacher walkouts, while generally being polite and courteous, has certainly had its moments of disrespect. One semi-viral reddit post on the subreddit r/Oklahoma showed a sign at the walkout that compared the disgraced Oklahoma legislator, Ralph Shortey who was caught paying for sex with a minor, with the current legislature. The sign said, “Dear OK Legislators, If Senator Shortey can find money to pay for kids, why can’t you?” Comparing a legislature simply trying to do their job to a disgraced pedophile is the very definition of non-polite and non-courteous. While this particular sign seems to be an outlier, it has not stopped various legislators and the governor from calling for all sides to “lower the tempo of disrespect.” However, Harcourt would argue that criticizing the protestors as disrespectful and uncivil is an unsupported mixing of the two definitions of civility. Anything is fair game in the realm of
Civility, in the first sense of the word, is perhaps not supposed to be polite and courteous. Democracy and the functioning of a representative state can certainly get ugly. For example, the recent Oklahoma teacher walkouts, while generally being polite and courteous, has certainly had its moments of disrespect. One semi-viral reddit post on the subreddit r/Oklahoma showed a sign at the walkout that compared the disgraced Oklahoma legislator, Ralph Shortey who was caught paying for sex with a minor, with the current legislature. The sign said, “Dear OK Legislators, If Senator Shortey can find money to pay for kids, why can’t you?” Comparing a legislature simply trying to do their job to a disgraced pedophile is the very definition of non-polite and non-courteous. While this particular sign seems to be an outlier, it has not stopped various legislators and the governor from calling for all sides to “lower the tempo of disrespect.” However, Harcourt would argue that criticizing the protestors as disrespectful and uncivil is an unsupported mixing of the two definitions of civility. Anything is fair game in the realm of