Our obsession for youth has taken over our better angels, and our manners and sense of decency.
Judging by what passes for politics today, we need some adults in the room.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg dropped his iconic, ever-present t-shirt for a suit and tie when testifying before Congress this week – a first. There was a time when people actually dressed in nice clothes to go to church. Coarseness has since taken over our discourse in American society.
“Some of us have to stand up and say no. Don’t trash people, don’t slander people. There needs to be a return of decorum in the public forum,” says David Jennings, conservative Houston blogger whose opinions can be found at Big Jolly Politics.
Jennings, an avowed Republican who supports President Trump, even gets a little uneasy over the tone of some of the president’s tweets, and says as he runs for mayor in his community of Shore Acres he’d like to see civility return to the public arena. “We have to just say, ‘Okay, I’m a person, you’re a person. What do you think about taxes, walking down the street safely, about flushing your toilet and making sure that happens?’” He says instead we have divisiveness, coarseness in our language toward one another.
We need a new template for what passes as acceptable conduct. We need a return of maturity.
As for Jennings, he won’t be jumping on the “we need to dress nicer” bandwagon. He’s the guy in shorts in the back of the pews, waving.