"Is is Civility Dead?"

Every morning I wake up and watch the Today Show. The news program has covered many topics through many series, and last November one caught my attention, a new series called “Is Civility Dead?” I watched Matt Lauer’s interviews with specialists and analysts on civility, and thought they were over exaggerating and did not understand the means in which technology is forced upon younger generations.

            I remembered the series and looked it up on the todayshow.com. It was amazing how much my arrogant opinions had changed after only two months into my second semester English class. After reading Forni and Carter’s books and analyzing their commentary in class, it was apparent that we are  a society with no balance between technology and humanity.

            People named their biggest pet-peeve dealing with incivility in public and I could relate to these all-too-common annoyances. Talking loud on the cell phone in public  is an annoyance I have encountered more than once in the past week. During my Sports Management test last week, my professor handed out the midterm and after went outside the room and began to talk on his cell phone.  At first I thought it was going to be a quick phone call  but, after ten minutes he was frustrated and his voice he was practically yelling. It was a huge distracting to his students who were looking around shocked, and it was a huge hypercriticism on his part considering he does not tolerate phones or any use of technology in class.

            Our grandmothers were not around to enforce the rules and etiquette on texting and technology, and pop culture has influenced our technological manners. There is a lack of  face to face intimate conversation, eye contact, general manners, and an overall general classic civility.

            Although many think we are too deep into this uncivil-technology-run society, the end of the interview seemed to portray a sense of hope. A hope that parents can teach their children proper etiquette when using technology. Parents need to re-instate this idea of civility in their children’s generation along with reality TV shows, celebrities, and the entertainment business. They need to adjust their emphasis on negative, outlandish, and uncivil actions to generate revenue and attention. Hopefully we can start a new movement that will instill civility back into our society.

Jennifer Aniston v. Perez Hilton

As I was flipping through channels the other afternoon and  I saw one of my favorite celebrities Jennifer Aniston was the guest on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Ellen went into conversation about Aniston’s face-off with Perez Hilton, who is widely known for his website/blog where he proviedes exclusive scoop on celebrity gossip along with pictures and his infamous snarky commentary.

Jennifer Aniston is among the many celebrities that Perez Hilton likes to pick on. Aniston explained her encounter with Perez last week on Ellen.  She ran into him in a garage and confronted him on his bullying. She approached him said “Hi” and simply asked him “Why are you so mean?” After blank stars and an awkward confrontation, Perez posted his own commentary after the encounter vowing that he would become a friendlier person.

The negative attention he has received for his commentary has made him one of the most famous celebrity bloggers in modern society.  This new notion of “negative attention” is not something Forni would commend. To Forni our society believes that “if you are polite you are perceived as weak.” (25) In Perez Hilton’s case, being polite gets you nowhere in the tabloids and media business. The harsh reality is his inconsideration for others increases his net worth, professional career, and ultimately his ego.

In our technology-filled world today it is so easy to express how we feel (via the internet, text messaging, blogging etc.) without encountering another human. This new trend of cyber-bullying has become all to present in our society and has attributed to the massive decrease in civility today.

Jennifer Aniston took a step out of our technology-heavy world and confronted this cyber bully with class and civility. "There's something really great about putting a human being in front of another human being and then the reality that those words come home," she told Ellen. There is a human being behind everything and it is easy to forget all human have feelings and rights that should not be disregarded or disrespected. Carter’s metaphor that we cannot live our life sealed in our cars isolated, but we must live life as if we are on a train interacting with others and aware that we must show a courtesy and respect for others, relates to Anniston’s comments and actions. Carter and Forni would commend Aniston’s actions, her confrontation has decreased Perez’s snide comments and made the world a little more civil, one snarky blogger at a time.