Dave, I certainly agree with your call for civility. However, I have been unable to determine a period in the history of our country when civility was prevalent. It certainly was not during the Revolution or in the formative days of the new federation. President Jackson's pummeling critics with a cane wasn't very civil.
It was definitely not civil during the Civil War. (The Lincoln Museum in Springfield devotes an entire section to the vilification of the President.) I don't remember the 1960s as being particularly civil. Perhaps the period during the Eisenhower presidency was as civil as it is going to be. But, that period is regarded as repressive by some. (Besides, the cars were unsafe and the bikes were built like landing craft, i.e. the Schwinn "Roadmaster".) Regardless, the best way to counter uncivil behavior is to be civil. Larry From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dave Schlabowske Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2011 9:27 AM To: Robbie Webber Cc: milbtw; Bikies Subject: Re: [Bikies] Is speed enforcement a "speed trap?' Robbie, what bothers me about this is the suggestion that the newspaper prefers to use your piece as troll bait to increase page views so the blog is more valuable to advertisers. That suggests to me that the story is only newsworthy if it brings out all the haters. I find the comment forums for online versions of newpapers along with call-in comments to talk radio to be a detrimental to our democracy. The anonymity in these so-called debates, have become seed beds for anger and hatred that have spilled over into the rest of our interpersonal society. Civility is becoming a thing of the past and people have come to feel that it is acceptable to walk up to someone they don't know and rage at them. On Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 6:44 PM, Robbie Webber <[email protected]> wrote: I wrote a letter to the editor of the Cap Times, and he asked if he could post it as a blog, to draw comments from readers. I'm quite sure I will be pilloried in the Madison.com comments section, so I thought maybe I'd also let a more friendly audience know as well. http://bit.ly/py0OCo It has always bugged me that the papers continue to label traffic enforcement as a "speed trap," as if it's all sneaky and hidden. Anyway, you can read the rest of it at the link above. Robbie Webber _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org -- Dave Schlabowske Dir. of Communications Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin 414-271-9685 www.bfw.org
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