I get a kick out of the media's constant snide shots at Harry Reid. Even the guys on "our side" do it. Today, on MSNBC, in responding to a question by Ed Schultz about why President Obama was the one out in the public square selling Health Care Policy, Joan Walsh said, "Well we sure wouldn't want Harry Reid out there!"
That exchange got me thinking about modeling. Modeling is a term that refers to the old fashion concept of setting an example. Parents are encouraged to set an example for their kids. Teachers are expected to set an example for their students. People in the public square are expected to set an example of how one should behave.
There was a time in our history when parents, teachers and all public figures took the responsibility for setting an example very seriously. Film, books, radio and then television modeled appropriate behavior for the population. Manners were made national in scope as famous people taught us how to eat, and drink, and love. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" became a model of political behavior that has endured in the national consciousness for decades. What we know of ourselves, of our system, of our country, was modeled by those who recognized the tremendous power of offering a template for negotiating the rigors of daily life in civil ways.
Least anyone think I am offering a pie in the sky view of history, let me disabuse you of that notion, at once. There were always crude, vulgar, ignorant people. Those who exhibited a jarring insensitivity to the codes of conduct and mores of the larger society. But they were generally pitied, or ignored. They were never elevated to a pedestal, and offered as a new standard.
Today, as we look around, we see a growing number of people who simply do not know how to behave on the public stage. Tea Baggers screaming their cant, Glen Beck lying without remorse, religious extremists pushing an undemocratic agenda as a new face of democracy; the list is a long and growing one.
And, we wring or hands, decry the incivility, and mutter to ourselves about the degrading state of political culture. Then we watch "Survivor", or "Housewives", or any of 100 various shows and entertainments that model crass, greedy, rudeness, and are amused.
Poor Harry Reid! Soft spoken, non-threatening, careful and sometimes clumsy in speech, he is hell on wheels behind the scenes. But he is mocked because he does not present the aggressive, slick, facile public persona of a John Boner (sic).
We have created a clear trap for ourselves. We demand civility but we do not reward it. We want enlightened discussion, but pay for ranting and raging with our eyeballs, and purchases.
It occurs to me that if we want to recapture a civil society we must begin rewarding civility. And, punishing those who display all of the self-control and social skills of the average 2 year old.