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Howto: stay civil while discussing the children in America's concentration camps


As our political betters are always there to remind us, civility is important, the key to getting things done — that’s why Gerning Joe was so pallsy wallsy with segregationists — you wouldn’t want to offend the eugenics movement, because there’s good people on both sides.


The Trump Administration’s decision to spend millions paying Beltway Bandits to put kids in concentration camps is a real stain on the nation’s character, because of all the incivility this has provoked, which has hurt the feelings of people who are sad about being criticized.


With this in mind, our friends at The Onion have assembled a must-read guide to staying civil while debating child prisons, with tips like “Avoid unkind generalizations like equating the jailing of ethnic minorities with some malevolent form of fascism,” “Consider that we all have different perspectives stemming from things like age, ethnicity, or level of racism,” and “Recall that violently rejecting a tyrannical government goes against everything our forefathers believed in.”


Give your political opponents the benefit of the doubt by letting this play out for 20 years and seeing if it gets any better on its own.

Realize that every pressing social issue is solved through civil discourse if you ignore virtually all of human history.

Avoid painting with a broad brush. Not everyone in favor of zero-tolerance immigration wants to see children in cages—it’s more likely that they just don’t care.

Tips For Staying Civil While Debating Child Prisons [The Onion]


(Image: Rueben Bolling)

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