A couple of years back, I was in my local post office sending off mail. There was a fairly long line of people ahead of me. Okay, nothing surprising here right? What was more surprising, or more arguably, annoying, was the fact that about less than five minutes later, a man walks in talking on his cell phone talking loudly in a very animated tone. There were three people separating him and me.
Some patrons seemed to be disturbed, yet amused by his insensitive behavior. This was evident in the way many people were looking and glancing at one another. His conversation continued on and got louder until he finally left the place. It seemed as if everyone sighed in relief.
More recently, last spring semester, I was in the middle of teaching my Honors U.S History Survey course when suddenly there was a loud and boisterous conversation that came out of nowhere. The ruckus went on for a few more minutes and I saw my students becoming increasingly perturbed by the noise. I eventually had enough, jumped out of my seat (much to my students delight), rushed to the door, opened it, shut it and confronted the rabble rousers who were standing in the middle of the hall carrying on in such a manner.
I politely, yet firmly informed them that I, and most likely, a number of other professors, were trying to conduct their classes and that if they desired to continue to converse with one another it would be more respectful if they went to the student center, outside or to an area where such conversation would be permissible and would not disturb or infringe on others’ ability to teach or learn. The students quickly apologized and went on their animated way.
While these are certainly not the most extreme cases of incivility that have occurred, the fact is that they are minor examples in what has become, according to a number of psychologists and social scientists, evidence of the growing decline of civility in American society. A non-scientific poll conducted by KRC Research interviewed more than 1,000 citizens produced the following findings:
When further asked to provide examples or reasons for the growing level of incivility in our society, participants cited the following reasons or institutions:
