Mark Kingwell - Unruly Voices: Essays on Democracy, Civility and the Human Imagination

ALSO BY MARK KINGWELL

A Civil Tongue

Dreams of Millennium

Better Living

Marginalia: A Cultural Reader

Canada: Our Century [with Christopher Moore]

The World We Want

Practical Judgments

Catch and Release

Nothing for Granted

Classic Cocktails: A Modern Shake

Nearest Thing to Heaven

Concrete Reveries

Opening Gambits

The Idlers Glossary [with Joshua Glenn]

Extraordinary Canadians: Glenn Gould

The Wage Slaves Glossary [with Joshua Glenn]

ESSAYS ON

DEMOCRACY,

CIVILITY,

AND THE

HUMAN

IMAGINATION

MARK

KINGWELL

Copyright Mark Kingwell, 2012

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher or a licence from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright licence, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1800-8935777.

FIRST EDITION

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Kingwell, Mark, 1963-

Unruly voices : essays on democracy, civility and the human imagination / Mark Kingwell.

ISBN 9781-92684585-2

1. Democracy. 2. Courtesy. 3. Imagination--Social aspects. 4. Political culture. I. Title.

JC423.K55 2012306.2C2012901710-8

Biblioasis acknowledges the ongoing financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, the Canada Book Fund; and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Arts Council.

Sir, more than kisses, letters mingle souls ... (Donne to Wotton, 1598) for Molly, with much love and kisses many

Introduction:
Incivility, Zombies, and Democracys End

1 All Show:
Justice and the City

3 Masters of Chancery:
The Gift of Public Space

5 The Tomist:
Francis Fukuyamas Infinite Regression

6 Throwing Dice:
Luck of the Draw and the Democratic Ideal

8 What Are Intellectuals For?
A Modest Proposal in Dialogue Form

9 Fuck You and Other Salutations:
Incivility as a Collective Action Problem

10 The Philosopher President Sets Forth:
A Monologue

13 Language Speaks Us:
Sophies Tree and the Paradox of Self

14 The Trick of It:
Poetry and the Plane of Immanence

15 As It Were:
On the Metaphysics (or Ethics) of Fiction

When we are all guilty, that will be democracy.

Albert Camus, The Fall

I SPENT MY CHILDHOOD as a pint-sized political junkie, the kind of dork who collected those matched sets of gas-station coins with the prime ministers heads on them. When, in the summer of 1974, my father was transferred from the air force base outside of Summerside, PEI, to the flight training school in Winnipeg, I lobbied hard for us to visit Ottawa on the way, to see the Parliament Buildings. My two brothers were hostile and indifferent, respectively, but I won the day. We reeled in the long ribbon of the eastern Trans-Canada and headed to the capital so that I could experience the little thrill of walking up that small incline to the front steps, of taking in the elegant lineaments of the most beautiful neo-Gothic building in the world. Inside, I imagined the soaring rhetoric and penetrating ideas, the rhetoric and reality of democracy in action. I thought great men and women did great work there, representing our interests in keen, brilliant debate.

I know, I know. But I still get a little bat-squeak echo of that first naive take whenever I walk up those steps. The last time, in the spring of 2009, was for something called Breakfast on the Hill, a morning lecture series for academics held in the Parliamentary Dining Room, itself a nerd-lingers dream, with its separate panelled alcoves for each province. My talk was about leadership and the political virtue of civility. Among other things, I echoed the Great Liberal Leaders call for more civil exchange to make our country (and maybe even him) great.

Heres what Joanne Chianello of the Ottawa Citizen wrote about it later: Ignatieff writes that if our politics are good, we can keep our disagreements civil. And indeed, the theme of civil dissent ran through Kingwells early-morning talk Thursday as well. Incivility, he told the audience, doesnt just threaten the etiquette of interchange, it threatens democracy. But while Kingwell was taking comments following his speech, two Liberal parliamentarians began their own conversation at their tableclearly audible to all those around, the speaker, and certainly the woman asking the question. They seemed oblivious to the irony of their incivility.

Not just audible, actually. They practically shut down one whole side of the room. Thats why we dont take our students to visit the Commons anymore, a high school teacher told me afterwards. Theyre too shocked by the bad behaviour of the MPs.

Yup. That air of bozo entitlement, coupled with a routine disregard of anybody elses views or right to speak: pretty much your basic definition of incivility. If these two, washed up by chance on the silver beach of late-capitalist power and wealth, are even partly indicative of what our elected representatives are likeand they arethen were all in a mess of trouble, though not for the reasons you may think.

Only a child could find surprise in the idea that MPs are rude. I mean, really. Have you ever been in the House of Commons and taken a look at the inmates? a P. G. Wodehouse character wonders of the Mother of All Parliaments, the exalted model for the one in Ottawa. As weird a gaggle of freaks and sub-humans as was ever collected in one spot. I wouldnt mix with them for any money you could offer me. Some would say that in this context rudeness is, if not quite a job requirement, then at least an understandable occupational hazard. And there may even be a simpler explanation of the MPs behaviour. If people were talking over Kingwell, then thats not so uncivil, ran one online comment on Chianellos story. Theyve probably heard the speech before and got bored. Ive heard it, and its frigging boring.

To which the only rational response is fuck you.

Just kidding. But it is difficult to make the argument for the value of civility when the immediate response to the argument is dont frigging bore me, you longwinded dork. (I added the longwinded dork part, but it feels right.) Ive been defending the political virtue of civility in spaces both academic and popular, public and private, for almost fifteen years. Lots of other people were at it long before that. I dont think its boring; but then, I dont think Im a pompous jackass either. Pleas for civility are commonplace even as current discursive practice places a growing premium on rudeness and incivility in everything from opinion-dominated newspapers and unbridled blog posts to groomed television hatchetmen and politicians whose idea of a good riposte is escalating the insult. This is one of those instances, like the NHL playoffs and prime-time television, where things really have become worse in recent years. Underneath the road-rage politics and bratty teenage campaign rhetoric there is actually a creeping nihilism here, a disregard for the very idea of reason.