Colleagues, episode 1

From an email advertising a political discussion forum to be held today:

Colleagues:

From Ted Nugent’s comment that he’ll be in jail or dead or in jail if President Obama is reelected, to the alleged comments SGA members made recently stating that Chancellor Rakes could “suck it,” where has all of the civility gone in public discourse? It seems, instead, that public discourse has turned into a morass of vitriol where competing sides of a debate degenerate into a pool of ad hominem attacks and shouting matches where no meaningful and constructive discussions can occur. Where is all of this hate hubris come from? Are we doing enough in the academy to teach our students to be good citizens? What can we do to promote civil discourse?

Join us today at noon in UC 125 as Dr. _____________ tackles this troubling issue. The article under discussion is below. 

I would like to add one question:  Where has all the art of not overwriting gone?  Are we all just now at the mercy of whichever colleague wants to write melodramatic emails?  It seems, instead, that emails are now an opportunity for one to take one's wits for a walk and to throw in an inkhorn term or two if one can.

Also:  even a cursory understanding of rhetoric, or of political history (or just plain history), would allow one to recognize that "civility" has never been a particularly strong point in American politics.  It is also my observation (anecdotal only) that "civility" is only of concern to most academics when their favored politicians and policies are the ones being pilloried.