A requiem for civility

I write to mourn the passing of something I've long admired - civility. I can't pinpoint when it fell ill, but its much-diminished condition became obvious during the two-year run-up to the November 2016 elections. Traits that fed civility - like respect, dignity, deference, politeness, courtesy, honesty, integrity, caring, rationality, and objectivity - slowly fell by the wayside and caused civility's demise. Results of the unfortunate loss of civility are: a growth in the cult of the crude; massive electronic towers of babble; hordes of hate mongers; anarchy on diminished university campuses populated by snowflakes and spineless administrators; and frequent protester violence.

The death of civility is not an overnight occurrence prompted by the election of President Trump. The ascendance of the boorish and often uncivil Mr. Trump is just the "flashpoint." Here are a few of the progenitors.

• Social engineers whose policies destroyed the concept of traditional family values.

• Educators who've caved to social activists, eviscerated curricula, dumbed-down standards and fear for their jobs if they impose discipline and accountability upon students.

• Secularists who've succeeded in removing God from the schools and the town square.

• Self-important vulgarians in the creative community who celebrate and promote crudity, violence, dystopia and other aberrant behaviors.

• Self-serving politicians who aim to divide us via the practice of "identity politics" and the "politics of personal destruction;" and, who destroy citizen confidence via their lies and venality. Neither party is exempt from this, but Democrats have elevated these practices into high art form.

• Discredited media that has completely lost its way and is just a cheerleader for discord.

I hope, for the sake of our country, that civility might find resurrection.

Charles F. Falk

Schaumburg