The Incivility of 2019

I have been shocked at the communication coming from inside and from outside of Washington D.C. I’m not certain what was the starting point or when it began, but someone flipped a switch on the “Messaging Rules” that everyone in the nation’s capital is supposed to follow. If there ever was a chapter titled “Civility” in those rules, it was ripped out and replaced with a new chapter titled “Incivility and How to Maximize its Use.”

Incivility is certainly not an exclusive of politicians. But they often seem to be driving the boat. It crosses a broad spectrum of the country now emanating from the epicenter of our government. It from its inception has spread through America like the flu. No one is exempt. But the doctors for “Incivility flu” are certainly seeing many patients. It has reached epidemic proportions.

Do you think it might be driven by our electronic information gluttony? Do you remember how things were before we each had a smartphone, a laptop, a desktop computer, and an iWatch? We literally talked to each other!

I remember actually having dinner at a dinner table. In fact, Mom prepared and served us three meals a day. We all sat down at the same time, prayed, started with the salad and then potatoes, and passed them around the table. Guess what we did while the food passing was happening: we talked to each other!

As a kid I discovered early what books were and that besides having books that taught me, there was a world I had never seen or heard of contained within the covers of far more books than I could ever read. So I dove in. I became a speed reader before it became a “cool” thing. Our bookmobile would hit our neighborhood every Tuesday right after lunch. I was allowed to checkout only three books at a time. Mom would holler and tell me not to read mine so fast. But every week I had read all three by Thursday — Friday at the latest. I devoured everything I read.

I didn’t have to put one of those books down to check my email, answer a constant barrage of texts or respond to dozens of tweets every day. The only way I could reach out to friends was a phone call or hopping on my bicycle to go to their house. Nope: I didn’t have a Facebook page or even a CB handle!

Those times were from an ancient age that’s long been in my rear view mirror. They’re way back behind me along with those dinosaurs.

We didn’t get our first television until 1960. Of course it was black and white, but it was truly cool to watch Gunsmoke on Saturday evenings. My favorite was Seahunt with Lloyd Bridges. Saturday mornings Mom gave my brother and me two hours to watch cartoons. The Road Runner, Mickey Mouse and I became great friends.

During Summer, we played outside until Mom hollered that lunch was ready. After lunch we hit it again. That lasted until the street lights came on at which time we were required to go home.

Schools had no classroom rules for the uses of electronic devices. No one ever got caught texting a girlfriend during class. The worst that ever happened was getting busted for passing notes. There were plenty of conversations on the playground during lunch.

You know what? In those days I knew everything about my neighbors, fellow classmates, some of whom I didn’t care for, about 90% of folks I saw in church on Sundays, and even neighbors’ out-of-town relatives that came for a week’s vacation once a year. Why did I know all that? We talked to each other!

Then with the advent of satellite communication, the internet, smartphones and bytes and gigabytes, Apple and Microsoft, things began to change. Those in charge of media content quickly found a way to maximize the use of Incivility and its reach: Attack others of an opposing political perspective.

Things changed. At some point, media moguls decided “straight” news without the inclusion of personal opinions by those writing and broadcasting had become boring. Consumers of News grew tired of the same old thing. Ratings and readership saw a precipitous slide. Of course, that led to the loss of advertising and subscriptions — the media’s “kiss of death.” So began the addition of a little “flair” to their stories. Soon political perspective became the norm and real news slipped away.

Rush Limbaugh in 1988 shocked the world with the first national conservative radio talk show. Soon because of Limbaugh’s huge success, copycats showed up. His ratings skyrocketed. Before long tens of millions were each day making his show a staple of their media news consumption. That was not lost on those media moguls. They tried to copy Rush’s philosophy and on-air persona but failed miserably. Why? Because it seems that media folks on the Left seem angry. Their anger bled through all of their messaging. Their methodology was to denigrate the lies of Limbaugh eschewing his conservatism and all conservatives. Americans saw right through that and did not like it.

So satellite TV became their vehicle to battle conservatism. MSNBC, CNN, plus large metro newspapers led by the New York Times and the Washington Post became their propaganda outlets. Liberals and other Leftists dreamed of appearing there knowing they would reach a larger audience. It wasn’t too successful either.

Enter Donald J. Trump

What is puzzling to me is that when Donald Trump was “Donald Trump the reality show star,” everyone on the left thought he was cool. They all hungered to meet him, be around him,and were awestruck if they had a chance for one-on-one interaction. But that honor and respect the left had for him evaporated in an instant: when he announced he was launching a bid for the White House as a Republican.

People laughed, hurled insults at him, quit associating with him. And the rest is history. POLITICS immediately changed. Say what you will, Donald Trump is a great communicator. You may not like some of the thing he says, some of the ways he says them, or the demeanor he uses when he says them. But no one can say he does not get his points across, that he is not astute at making his points, or that he is always politically “in line” or using Republican talking points.

Today’s Communication

As I said above, it’s not just politicians. Hollywood is just as bad or worse. For example, Oscar winning actor Robert DeNiro is known for his nastiness in talking to others. Graham Chase Robinson, his longtime aide, filed a gender discrimination lawsuit alleging he made “abusive and sexist comments” toward her and engaged in “inappropriate contact,” including “gratuitous unwanted physical contact.”

In one example, the actor lambasted Robinson, who worked for his company from 2008 to 2018, calling her a “spoiled brat” when she did not immediately answer his phone call. She is seeking $12 million in damages.

“How dare you f—— disrespect me?,” he said in the voicemail, in which he also told her: “You’re f—— history.”

He’s famously known for such. And he’s not the only one. And it’s not just in Hollywood. Our kids today don’t even know how to talk to each other. Speech class and debate class are not even taught at most schools. Journalism in high school and college are just a joke.

Best known American musicians even take pride in proving how vile, nasty, and demeaning so they can be quoted in the media to get some more “street cred.” And their fawning teeny-bob fans go all-in on crazy for it. Generation Z-ers have even developed their own communication “code” language. If you don’t think so, get your kid to give you a tour of his/her Facebook page. You won’t be able to read and understand half of it. And to think: all we had was Pig Latin.

Summary

President Trump is a pain in the derrière to many Americans. Let’s face it: his verbiage is at best crude, and worst is incorrigible. But you know what: he gets his message across without having to have media members to interpret. They hate his message, not for their content, but because they don’t get to give us their version interpretation. They’re not accustomed to that and have immediately resorted in the most vile and vitriolic responses to the things he say. Today alone I heard an NBC reporter and a CNN reporter call him a liar and a couple of things he said were lies. MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell said this: “Donald Trump is the Word’s biggest jackass.”

When in your memory did you see any member of the media call Presidents Clinton, Bush, or Obama a liar? Any memories of them pass out any “jackass” name tags? That would have set the world on fire!

This President is a lightning rod.

In closing, there’s something important to point out: the Inspector General’s report detailing his findings of his investigation into how the Trump Collusion/Mueller Investigation was started — specifically the FISA applications that initiated surveillance by the CIA and NSA into the Trump campaign. It is already known those applications for those warrants were based on false sworn information included in those applications by several different FBI and DOJ officers. Doing so is a felony.

Why mention that talking about communication Incivility? The last two weeks members of the Obama Administration (who were the ones involved in that FISA process) have gone public with their anger, hatred, and self righteous in viciously attacking President Trump. Why do you think former NSA Advisor Susan Rice, former CIA Director John Brennan, Former DOJ Eric Holder who has NEVER been in the spotlight since the 2016 election, and former FBI Director John Brennan become so adamant in their Donald Trump attacks?

In my opinion, it’s because they are expecting their personal implication in the IG report. Their coming out now is an attempt to get out in front of the IG report so that when it comes out, they’ll be able to say “None of it’s true. It’s just Trump’s DOJ acting on his part to impact the 2020 election.”

It’s all about messaging: Communication.

If you’re a conservative and you appreciate the job President Trump has been doing, don’t get nervous: I still think there are enough caring and honest Americans to thwart any such coup to unseat President Trump. I said “coup,” and it IS a coup.

We are witnessing a sad time in American history — a time when we are watching a mob of Leftist lawmakers ignore the law, ignore the Constitution, and take the law into their own hands to force Americans to accept their removing a legally elected president.

It won’t happen! Furthermore, I fully expect the factual evidence to exonerate Mr. Trump while supporting the Rule of Law. That’s what these bogus Democrat Party investigations are supposed to be about. But they’re only about Democrat Party agenda: get Donald Trump out of Washington.

It will not happen. They’ll try…but they’ll fail! President Trump is to good a communicator for that. Americans will not let that happen.