civility

i just read a tweet from the whirling dervish known as anton j. gunn where he notes that civility reigns in the townhall meetings regarding health care reform in south carolina. we have seen the uncivil and relentless bluster of people, certain people i might add, that primarily oppose the legislation simply because it is an initiative of President Obama. i won't get into the merits, loopholes or pitfalls of this legislation because i simply want to address anton's comment.

so here it goes...

i believe we in south carolina are witnessing less contention than some other areas of the country simply because the people in these meetings in south carolina realize that being blustery here just might set off a series of events that will real ugly, real fast. my response in responding to anton's tweet was this:

"when numbers are balanced, people maintain decorum that will surprise you; but a perception of safety in numbers bloats egos..."

my meaning to all this is simple but longer than the 140 characters on twitter: when the room is balanced with people of different cultures, races, etc., only the TRULY ignorant will proceed to behave as we have seen lately in the news. most behavior does remain civil because the equality of the room causes one to assess the ramifications of one's actions more carefully. but when people get a sense of being a part of the dominant group, their ego bloats and fills their psyche with feelings of "i can say and act however i want because i know all these peeps got my back".

but we know that south carolina has a better balance of people than some of the communities that have held raucous townhall meetings. besides, anton j. gunn is a 6'3", 270lb black man and a former starting D-1 offensive lineman. there are not a lot of people who are going to initiate a shouting match with him... LOL