The current shouting match going in Washington is bad public speaking<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 Good public speaking<\/a><\/strong> begins– literally and figuratively– with civility.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay it please the court,\u201d says the lawyer.<\/p>\n

\u201cMadam Speaker,\u00a0 Vice President So-and-So, members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans,\u201d says the President at the State of the Union<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is indeed an honor and a privilege to be with you today,\u201d say most commencement speakers<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart, be acceptable to You,\u201d says the preacher, beginning her sermon.<\/p>\n

Speeches begin<\/a><\/strong> with an elaborate display of good manners because good manners flatter the audience and predispose them to find the speaker and his argument appealing.<\/p>\n

So public speech<\/strong> begins\u2014literally\u2014with ritualistic words of respect designed to, at the least, get the audience to lend its collective ear to the speaker.<\/p>\n

Later on in the body of the talk, if the speaker is advocating against an opposing point of view, she would be wise\u00a0 to state that view in a fair and balanced way, and acknowledge the legitimacy of it.<\/p>\n

Then, without demonizing the values and beliefs that support the opposing view, the speaker can demonstrate why that view is flawed, and hers is better.<\/p>\n

In addition to treating the opposing view as reasonable, the speaker should be mindful of her own tone and word choice.<\/p>\n

We recognize that being uncivil earns the speaker notoriety, adulation from the partisan crowd, and maybe some emotional catharsis.<\/p>\n

But it tends to delay a considered decision made for the public good because it shuts down the other side\u2019s ability and willingness to listen.<\/p>\n

In the end, civility gets things done better, cheaper, and faster.<\/p>\n

<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The current shouting match going in Washington is bad public speaking.\u00a0 Good public speaking begins– literally and figuratively– with civility. \u201cMay it please the court,\u201d says the lawyer. \u201cMadam Speaker,\u00a0 Vice President So-and-So, members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans,\u201d says the President at the State of the Union. \u201cIt is indeed an honor… Read More »Public speaking begins with civility<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_ti_tpc_template_sync":false,"_ti_tpc_template_id":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[30,117],"yoast_head":"\n