A lot of folks are talking about civility these days. But is anyone doing anything about it?

Well, yeah — er, I mean, yes. Yet it seems the busier folks in this arena are those promoting even more incivility in our national public discourse.

The poster child for the problem may still be Joe Wilson, a lightweight (See how easy incivility is?) GOP congressman from South Carolina, whose claim to fame is to have heckled President Obama during a joint session of Congress last year with: “You lie!”

I don’t think it uncivil to note that all our presidents likely have lied. That seems a requirement to win and to do the job. But now we have a backbencher shouting such claims for fun and political profit, with all the decorum of a kid in a sandbox.

Soon after that episode came the Anti-Defamation League’s report, “Rage Grows in America: Anti-Government Conspiracies.”

Examining “the groups and individuals” behind the alarming decline in our public discourse,” the ADL cited “the ‘birthers’ who claim the president is not an actual citizen of the U.S., to militia groups fearful that the government plans to forcibly disarm American citizens, to those who suggest that the health-care reform movement is akin (to) Nazi policies.

“There is a toxic atmosphere of rage in America being witnessed at many levels, and it raises fundamental questions for our society,” said Abraham Foxman, ADL national director. “While not all of American has bought into these conspiracies, they seem to be seeping more and more into the mainstream.”

We seem to have slipped further since, toward a nation that is losing all sense of civility — and, in the words of McDonald’s masterful ad campaign, lovin’ it.

Increasingly we give the most outrageous media and political demagogues the biggest ratings. Intuitively we know they’ll poison our national discourse, wreck the country, whatever it takes to advance themselves, which ultimately is what they’re all about. Yet we keep tuning in, voting them in, seeking to be “informed,” and comforted. Which underscores that ultimately, we are responsible for this situation.

And these days, of course we can’t overlook what is being called Islamophobia. It seems Muslims have become the new — er, for the sake of civility, let’s just say, “N word,” with anyone who resembles “immigrant” a close second. Shrill voices keep demanding that Muslims be lumped in one bag. Yet as one of them I can attest that rather than being monolithic, the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims are as diverse as human beings get.

The point seemed to have been lost on veteran news commentator Juan Williams, who, trying to placate Fox News extremist Bill O’Reilly, and have National Public Radio too, provided NPR execs an opportunity to do what they long have wanted: dump him.

NPR’s excuse was Mr. Williams’ statement that when he sees folks on airplanes wearing traditional (or, in his thinking, stereotypical) Muslim garb, “and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims,” he becomes fearful. So Fox just hired at $2 million this news analyst, who not only thinks terrorists would disguise themselves as … Muslims, but also thinks folks’ myriad cultural clothing identifies them as terrorists.

With the operative words, “and I think,” Mr. Williams at least acknowledged that the problem was in his head, and reminded us that blacks can be bigots too. Best line I saw on it all? Juan Cole, University of Michigan professor: “Next Williams will be announcing that he sympathizes with the white police officers who get nervous when they see people dressed like African-Americans traveling in automobiles.”

The situation has reached the point that friends increasingly say they are tuning out TV, talk radio and other mass media news in favor of more thoughtful information sources such as — OK, I’ll say it — this one.

“We have given up in my house,” is a typical comment. “Just too much mass hypnosis all day long by the warped media.”

Yet with so many choices, grabbing people’s attention costs more than money, “It costs interesting,” says blogger Seth Godin. “Thus, as media moves from TV-driven to attention-driven, we’re going to see more outliers, more renegades and more angry people driving agendas and getting elected.”

But is civility dead? Hardly. A friend just told me she will be participating next month in a Consultation on Civility, part of a major project the Jewish Council for Public Affairs is mounting “to help restore civility in our nation.” As part of its Bridging Cultures initiative, the National Endowment for the Humanities recently accepted proposals for “Civility and Democracy” grants.

Another friend said she’ll be heading next month to a weekend gathering of sisters of her Catholic congregation whose anti-racism team “meets twice a year to consider how to keep this reality and need for transformation in front of the whole congregation’s consciousness and actions.”

“We are greatly in need of turning down the rhetoric of both religious and political dialogue,” said Mitch Carnell of South Carolina, author of Christian Civility in an Uncivil World, in his April article at ethicsdaily.com, Breaking Point? Working to Restore Civility. “It starts with each one of us taking responsibility for our own actions.”

Like you, I’m sure, I’m not always as patient, or as civil, as I want to be. But civility dead?

Nah, we’re just witnessing the latest last gasp of the recalcitrance in our human spirit. Our progress through the course of history, and even in my brief lifetime, renders me hopefully optimistic (which some friends translate as: optimistic fool).

Thus this ode to you who are trying to do the civil thing. You know who you are. With more of us than ever, of so many different stripes, learning from, sharing with and better appreciating each other, we still might lose, humanity.

But ultimately, the professional haters for fun and profit can’t win. 

— My gratitude for all the kindness from those of you who were readers of more than two decades of my editorials and columns for The Palm Beach Post. I’m still rooting for my friends there. But for those who have wanted more of my offerings, welcome. I’m going to love sharing on the issues and goings-on in our community, if not our galaxy. Thanks for joining me on this latest journey.

— C.B. Hanif

I also reminded Ray of our monthly interfaith gatherings that provide opportunities for folks to get together in a comfortable, refreshing, respectful and thoughtful atmosphere to meet real people of all stripes, ask questions, share ideas, learn about and from each other and help jettison stereotypes and bigotry.

Coming up next, Muslims, Christians & All in Model Interfaith Dialogue and Unity: The Interfaith Alliance video, “Vision of Creating Community,” featuring San Diego’s Masjidul Taqwa and the Focolare Movement, continues the ongoing DVD & Discussion series, Sunday, Nov. 21, 2-4 pm, at the United Methodist Church of the Palm Beaches, 900 Brandywine Road, West Palm Beach 33409. Organized by New Africa of the Palm Beaches with support of local clergy and lay friends. These monthly interfaith gatherings provide opportunities to transcend religious, ethnic and cultural divisions, by learning from and about each other, while developing exemplary models for human interaction and cooperation. More info: 561-309-5476.

Yep, still better to light a candle than curse the darkness.

— C.B. Hanif

So the best thing to do is find out what Islam really is about. Talk to a Muslim in person. Read an introduction to Islam (try a fun one like mine). Read Loonwatch to read about the holes in the anti-Islamic rhetoric. Or take a look at the University of Georgia’s informational website on Islam for some quick answers and further reading. If you read the anti-Islam fear-mongering websites, all you’ll learn will be tall tales.

Top Ways 9/11 Broke Islamic Law (and other Informed Comment by U. of Mich Prof. Juan Cole):

Bin Laden is not a proper Muslim, and his actions contravened Islamic law. He is a Jim Jones-type cultist with a fringe, violent People’s Temple. Americans need to stop blaming Islam, and to recognize that most Muslims in the world are their friends, and that American Muslims are patriots and contributors to our well-being. Every time Americans tear down Islam, Bin Laden gets a little bit of what he wanted.

Rabbi Bruce Warshal, Florida Jewish Journal: Shame on America, Jews and ADL. Quibble if you will. But a must-read essay:

To begin, the mosque controversy does not involve a mosque. It is planned as a 13-story community center encompassing a swimming pool, 500-seat performing arts center, gym, culinary school, restaurant and, yes, a prayer space for Muslims, which already exists in the current building…I guess that we are now at the point in America where Jews can have our JCC’s and Christians their YMCA’s, but Muslims are not wanted.

Mosque Hysteria, by the editors of America magazine, the national Catholic Weekly:

But what the “no mosque” pundits cannot deny is the sour contribution they have made to respectful, rational dialogue in U.S. civic life. Words have consequences; rhetoric is not disconnected from action. Mr. Enright may be unbalanced, and what little self-restraint he possessed may have been broken by alcohol. But civic leaders promoting intolerance and fear cannot offer even these excuses. The voices raised against Park51, formerly called Cordoba House, which would be run by precisely the kind of moderate Islamic leadership the United States should be encouraging, have stirred up an unpleasant neo-nativist brew across the nation….Political and religious leaders must cease waffling on this issue and unequivocally support both the right of Muslim citizens to build a place of community and worship—open to all—and the appropriateness of building in proximity to a place where cunning and cruelty took the lives of so many.

The Focolare Movement. I know no more “gen-u-wine Christians,” as one brother described them, than these who truly live what that great teacher Christ Jesus (peace be upon him) taught. Note their unprecedented years of loving relationships with Muslims and others, here in the U.S. and in more than 180 other countries. They are among my teachers and my dear sisters and brothers in faith:

The way of dialogue has emerged as the best way to contribute to the fulfilment of the testament of Jesus: “may they all be one”. This is His plan for unity, for brotherhood and sisterhood in the human family, and the purpose for which the Focolare Movement was born.

Muslims and Islam Were Part of Twin Towers’ Life. Right up until its destruction on 9/11, there was a Muslim prayer room on the 17th floor of the WTCs South Tower. This was essential knowledge for fair-minded folks in the face of the culture warriors’ emotional onslaught. Yet astonishingly our news organizations neglected to share this detail in the weeks of shamefully mislabeling the Cordoba Initiative’s proposed Islamic community center (Quick! Hide the women and children!!!) “THE MOSQUE AT GROUND ZERO.” Of the reports I’ve seen, Keith Olbermann’s best reflects my sentiment:

Throughout this stupid, childish, xenophobic debate, there was nobody who mentioned this stunningly relevant fact until (New York Times religion columnist Samuel Freedman) this past Saturday, September 11th…There were two Mosques in Ground Zero the moment it became Ground Zero.

Also, check Jason Linkins’ Anatomy of an Epic Media Failure:

As soon as the media saw themselves a shiny shiny shining thing shining shinily in New York City, they pounced! How perfect! Something for us to talk about during the slow-news summer! I mean, we could talk about the nation’s unemployment crisis, but that would mean we’d have to talk to poor, jobless people, and there’s no currency in having access to a bunch of poors. Right away, they accepted the premise that this was a “Ground Zero mosque,” when it wasn’t. And so, by the power vested in the media, things that weren’t in fact true were accorded the privilege of being “one side of a great debate” and “an interesting point of view.”

More than 10, I know. But I hope you appreciate (and share) some of these.

— C.B. Hanif

Muslim Condemnations of 9/11.

That site reports:

In the aftermath of the violence and horror of 9/11, criticisms were made that Muslim leaders and organizations were not outspoken enough in denouncing acts of terrorism. Muslims are constantly perplexed by this accusation, as we heard (and continue to hear) nothing but unequivocal and unified condemnations by the leaders of our community, both in the United States and worldwide. But for some reason, people are not listening.

For the record, the inhuman attacks of September 11 were condemned in the strongest terms by virtually all Islamic leaders, organizations, and countries. Thethe Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Judicial Council summarized that, “Islam rejects such acts, since it forbids killing of civilians even during times of war, especially if they are not part of the fighting. A religion that views people of the world in such a way cannot in any sense condone such criminal acts, which require that their perpetrators and those who support them are held accountable. As a human community we have to be vigilant and careful to preempt these evils.”

What follows that is a comprehensive list of such condemnations.

The search’s second link includes more of the kind of info that our “fair and balanced” news media rarely provide, such as the links to:

9/11 Anniversary Observances in U.S. Mosques

….and the names of the dozens of the shamefully disregarded:

*** Muslim Victims of September 11 Attack ***

Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, these pages abound, for anyone who bothers to check, before parroting the shameful accusations of demagogues, and slandering the sincerity of an entire faith community.

The third Google link connects to hundreds more such pages, including U. of Michigan Professor Juan Cole’s criticism of New York Times columnist Tom Friedman’s recurring duplicity:

Muslims Condemn Terror Attacks

If that is not enough, still more strenuous Muslim rejection of terrorism, from the  BBC, International Herald Tribune, YouTube, ad infinitum, at:

Facts Not Fear: More Muslim Condemnation of Terrorism & Violence

Here at my InterFaith21 site, I too highlighted Juan Cole’s “Muslim Denunciations of al-Qaeda and Terrorism” and his spanking of the misdirection from Friedman:

Juan Cole: Following Quranic logic to its logical conclusion

If I seem inpatient with having to address info that our ratings-driven, so-called news media all too often bury — or worse, are complicit in distorting —  one reason is that as a professional journalist, I think our media should be called out for feeding our low inclinations to stereotype and scapegoat.

“Islam, by definition, rejects terrorism,” declared the headline of one of my columns years ago in The Palm Beach Post. Yet, when a violent extremist fringe element acts in obvious contradiction of the book of guidance for Muslims, the Quran, some folks, parroting the professional haters, cite that behavior to paint an entire billion-plus group of people. It’s like characterizing all Christians by the actions of the Bible-toting, cross-burning Ku Klux Klan.

Thus my focus on education. Getting quality information on board. Sharing resources such as the links above. One thing I love about us as Americans, and as human beings generally,  is that when we get good information, we usually get it right.

As always, I thank all my friends for your support, encouragement and patience with me, as I continue to learn and grow with all of you.

— C.B. Hanif

Stumbled across this insight from University of Michigan Professor Juan Cole while researching my talk on the true picture of Muslims with a great group yesterday at Harbour’s Edge in Delray Beach. Cole cites and translates chapter and verse to conclude: “The default in the Quran is therefore not aggressive warfare, something the book repeatedly condemns. Warfare is permitted in self-defense. But the default is to be at peace with those who are at peace with you.” Note the date; another sign of how long “Informed Content” at juancole.com has trumped most major news sources for “Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion.”

Host Ray Marks confirmed...

...that I stimulated some thought.

More of the good folks at Harbour's Edge.

(R-L) Ray Marks, Harold and Janice Cooper, Aneesha and me.

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