Civility in politics is made conspicuous in these dangerously polarised times – almost entirely by its absence. Most people blame social media and the shield of anonymity it provides for the extraordinary levels of anger, hate and aggression encountered online. The argument advanced is that when people know who is speaking and/or writing to them, there exist formidable social, economic and legal barriers to abandoning the exercise of self-restraint. By removing those barriers, and equipping their customers with an impenetrable mask, the social media titans have encouraged human beings to be the worst that they can be. And humanity’s worst is very bad indeed.
But are the purveyors of this conventional wisdom correct? A few days ago I came across a pile of copies of the magazine that I published and edited for 14 years (1992–2005): New Zealand Political Review. Flicking through the pages of the Autumn 2003 edition, I was brought up short by the editorial I had written. It was entitled “Oh, for a well-mannered Left!”
