A Trend Toward Civility?

While there are always a few idiots in every crowd, I am here to congratulate the bulk of leftist ideologues for their attempts to remain civil during the hospitalization of Dick Cheney.

This is not to say that there are not a lot of Cheney haters out there, and it is not to say that every one of these haters has remained civil over Cheney's illness--certainly they all have not. (Kennedy had his own fair share of haters.) However, when news of Cheney's hospitalization became known the first thing I thought to myself was how hateful the treatment of Cheney would become.

I did some quick searching on USAToday and, of course, The Huffington Post. What was amazing to me was the number of mostly supportive comments of the former VP. Many of the comments were measured, and a few were filled with the patented vitriol for which the left is well known, but by and large, from top to bottom, the comments were on the line of a paraphrased "I don't agree with him, but I hope he returns to health."

Of course, before I have to defend myself too aggressively, I fully recognize that there are still a lot of ill-wishers out there praying for the fires of Hell to lick at Cheney's calves. I am simply noticing an improvement in the overall trend.

We have a long way to go when it comes to attaining civility in political discourse, and this applies to both sides. When a politician becomes ill or dies, the generic "I hope he burns in Hell" comment says a lot more about the speaker than it does about the ailing or dead. What it says is that there are a lot of bitter and psychologically ill people who anonymously comment on the internet. Maybe the Prozac is kicking in.

Here's to hoping the former Vice President returns to health soon, and here's also a solute to those that are making an effort to bite their tongues, however painful that might be. I noticed.