Why Civil Discourse Is the Solution for Society

Societies, and the people in them, often struggle to conjure up communities and communicate with each other. It’s not uncommon that different characters in a community have different beliefs, and allow these beliefs to settle into society, seeping into the social fabric, like water through cracks in the wall, and causing division. One way is through civil discourse and that’s when the many different people come together to solve a certain problem or concern. You can also share your anonymous stories at anonymous platforms like The Doe.

Civil discourse is the tool used by the different components of a certain society to find means to come together and not grow apart. Today whenever you have a group of people bundled together in the same geographical location such as a city or country, you need a set of rules and agreements to help govern the way of life. To achieve those rules and laws you can go about it in one or more ways. One way is through civil discourse and that’s when the many different people come together to solve a certain problem or concern. And through dialogue and debate, and many hours or days or weeks of communication, they will hopefully have reached a common ground on which an agreement can be made. This is a great option and has helped build societies world over and throughout history.

Another option, one that has also commonly been used throughout time, is that of a more violent and aggressive nature. There are always other ways one can progress or push their point of view and usually, those ways include aggressive means such as violent protest or in more drastic instances war. It may be extreme but it’s true. History is marred with the occasions of countries that digressed into war because communication at the national stage did not suffice, or the parties involved simply did not care for it. One need not look back too long ago to study the wars of Western societies, Eastern societies, developing countries, and developed countries. It does not matter how much wealth you’ve acquired, or where your global ranking is, divide can delve even the most powerful countries into complete and utter chaos.  And that’s because no matter what people will differ on any given subject. Issues like gun control, abortion rights, and taxes are just some of the issues that divide societies. It’s only natural that these problems exist and that there be a divide around them so that a consensus can be made. 

That is why it’s imperative that civil discourse takes place at the national level as well as the individual one. When civil discourse fails, civil strife prospers. When civil discourse no longer becomes a tool for conflict resolution, then that’s when the country or the community has lost the essence of its solidarity. Unity and co-existence come from being civil. Once you have that, then you can go about your life trying to build a country.