The debate about civility- updated

One of my regular blog readers, a high-school librarian, suggested to me some time ago that I should comment on the subject of civility. At first, I didn't see the relevance to packaging, but the more I thought about it, the more clearly I recognized some linkage. As we enter more deeply into the healthcare debate here in the United States, the discussions on civility (or the lack thereof) have emerged again. With the topic of civility back on many people's radar screens, I thought I'd discuss it here.

Little did I know when I first wrote this article a month ago, what would transpire in the following two weeks. Since that time, we have seen some extreme examples of the lack of civility and the mainstream press has been commenting on them. Perhaps I scooped them, and I believe that my thoughts are still appropriate.

Many have made the argument that our political discourse has become anything but civil. A colleague of mine with an interest in history observed that the level of incivility that we are currently experiencing in town hall meetings and other political venues is nothing compared to that of former times. As I reflected on war times, especially what has been recorded about the US Civil War and what I experienced during Vietnam, my friend is absolutely correct. Compared to those times, our present discourse is conducted in quite a civil manner.

Yet, there is still a problem. I was taught that it is best to disagree without being disagreeable. I must admit, sometimes I'm not very good at that. And in general, I think that our society is much less eloquent in expressing itself, most especially when we are disagreeing with someone. Being civil and disagreeing in an affable way takes practice, and that is something that succeeding generations have had less and less of.

It's apparent to most of us that the television, the computer and the video game console have lead to a less eloquent society. Not many of our kids participate in debating teams, and even our political debates provide adequate example of our general loss of prowess in discussing controversial topics. Our kids have few examples of "proper" debate or disagreement.

This is where packaging comes in. Let me cite two examples of how packaging has affected our civility.

The dreaded clam shell package has been berated on numerous media outlets as a source of frustration. How civil is it to have to resort to the use of saws and large knives to open a gift? The opening of clam shell packaging results in curses, insults and 100's of emergency room visits each year. Our children learn that frustration leads to violent outbursts. It's an unnecessary bad example repeated thousands of times each day.

The second more subtle example relates to the preponderance of pre-packaged goods that greets us and our kids every day as we shop. A way to practice civility is to practice negotiating. As a youth, I recall that shopping trips were always an exercise in negotiation. Shopping required a constructive interaction with one or more elders, which, if not handled in a civil manner, resulted in not achieving the goal.

Buying a radio or a pair of socks often began with a negotiation to convince a clerk that I was a serious buyer. If I was rude, the clerk would ignore me. If I wanted to touch the radio or choose the color of my socks, the clerk needed to bring the item to me. The clerk and customer might debate the merits of the various radios or discuss which color of socks went best with a particular pair of shoes. All of these discussions were practice at civil discourse.

Our pre-packaged world has ended all of that. Packaging is designed specifically to eliminate the need for clerks. I can purchase a radio, six pairs of socks, my groceries, a new watch and some nails and never speak to a single soul. The only utterance out of my mouth from the time I leave home until after I return with my purchases may be an expletive when I try to remove the packaging from my purchases.

All good things have unintended consequences. In this case, packaging, which most of us agree is a good thing, has had the unintended consequence of contributing to our lack of civility. As a result, we must all try harder, especially as we debate the big issues of our time.

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Comments So true and it is hard to see where it all ends as the technology is allowing (forcing) faster and shorter blips of emotion and gut reactions to every fleeting thought (like this!~) ... we don't invest the time needed to actually discover what is at the core of a belief or the promise on a package; sound bites and graphics are all we need to follow the lemmings. Posted by: chris miller on September 29, 2009 Post a comment (If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.) Name: Email Address: URL: Remember personal info? Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style) Type the word 'packaging' (required):