Virtue is a word I don’t hear much anymore. It was a staple in classical Greek and Roman philosophy, which we had to study in the seminary. It was also prominent in our foundations of moral theology courses.
The very word itself, coming from the Latin, implies strength. In this context, strength for living a morally good life.
A number of virtues seem to be in short supply in our contemporary American culture, but I would like to focus on one that I think is in very short supply yet very necessary if we are to have a truly free and democratic society – civility.
In our day it is very easy to find examples of the language of incivility on the radio and the television. How many talk shows seem to find representatives from the two extremes “to debate”? Ye, in reality, it is not a debate at the truth of the issues but more often an opportunity for name-calling and shouting at each other. The winner is perceived to be the one who shouted the loudest not the truth. Truth seems to be what suffers most in the language of incivility.
The language of civility would suggest that each side look for the good (another forgotten concept) in what the other is saying and be respectful of the differences. I wonder what this would do to the ratings of these types of programs.