Civility? A Discussion of Issues? Not Around SC’s Blogosphere.

I remember when kids in elementary school would say something was “rude, crude, and socially unacceptable.”

Why don’t those kids have blogs today? Maybe they do, but they forgot how to be civil.

Normally, I enjoy reading South Carolina’s blogs. I like reading about different people’s thoughts and feelings about what’s happening in our state. A lot of times I agree, and a lot of other times I don’t. Even when I see people going back and forth at each other in mean-spirited ways, I see those blog posts being about issues — not personal attacks.

I hoped that Laurin Manning’s return would have helped increase the level of blog civility, but unfortunately her blog has been silent since her last post in May, and the quality of debate has really gone down.

Specifically, there are two people I have in mind as I write this.

One is Ross Shealy at “Barbecue & Politics.” The other is one that I hate bringing in because there are so few females blogging, but she is Tammy Anonymous at “Seeding Spartanburg.”

Both are liberals, and I don’t have a problem with that.

They make no claims that they are anything else. They are proud of what they believe, and they should be.

Do I agree with them? No, but that’s part of the beauty of this nation. We don’t have to agree with each other.

We can debate, we can work to make this state and country better than it was when we got here, and we can still be friends even with our differences.

It’s only when we allow ourselves to delve in to personal attacks that the debate becomes muddy and unproductive. It’s then that no matter how good our points may be or how strong supporting facts are that our arguments become inherently weaker.

Ross Shealy has made no secret that he hates all outside campaign contributions — at least when they come from conservative sources or go to conservative causes. He’s done a lot of homework and sprinkled in his own opinions with it. Of course it’s pretty tough to take any barbecue “aficionado” seriously when he’s never included Holly Hill’s Sweatman’s Bar-B-Que to his lists;).

Tammy describes herself as “a rural bred thirty something, first-generation college educated native of Spartanburg, S.C. I am a mother, a wife, a full-time employee and a community activist of sorts.” She adds that she prides herself “in being labeled a bleeding heart liberal by many of my fellow southerners and, although they refer to moderate republicans in the same way, I still wear the label proudly.”

Now they’re changing their blog posts and comments to form more personal attacks. Recent discussions deal with a deceased spouse, physical appearance, and assumed character traits. That’s just bad taste.

UPDATE ON 8/21: After receiving a comment from Ross Shealy last night requesting we take a certain action, we discussed the matter and decided to make a goodwill gesture to remove this part of the post.

This may be a temporary revision or a permanent one. It all depends on him and whether or not he revises some of his past posts and comments that deal in personal attacks.

We made the decision to honor his request because the point of this post was to call for a civil debate on issues and not make baseless attacks on family members or people he doesn’t even know.

This is our olive branch on behalf of those who want to talk about issues instead of people. What will his next move be?

The point of the deleted section was that if we tell kids how they should treat other kids, how can we act in a completely contradictory manner and still consider ourselves role models rearing quality future leaders for this state?

– The OBB

Now, we rejoin the remainder of the original post already in progress.

Why is it so tough to stick to the issues? Making personal attacks does nothing to solve our state’s problems and frankly reinforces the perception that the rest of the country has about us.

Where’s Laurin? It’s time for issues.

Oh, by the way, for today’s book recommendation, click here.

– Mary Claire Forrester