Disagree better

by Tony Hudson, President, Save the American West, Stevensville

Over the past few years, anyone who reads the letters to the editor in this paper can see how much frustration, anger, and distrust has crept into our public conversations. Some of those letters raise real concerns. Others are written from genuine hurt. But too often, we talk past one another, assume the worst, or treat disagreement as something to be defeated rather than understood.

I recently read a book called “The Soul of Civility” by Alexandra Hudson, and it struck me as timely for a community like ours. This is not a book about being polite, avoiding conflict, or pretending we all agree. It’s about something older and more important, the idea that in a free society, disagreement is inevitable, but dehumanization is not.

Hudson makes the case that civility is not weakness or silence. It is restraint. It is the discipline of treating one another as moral equals, even when we strongly disagree. That idea used to be common in American civic life. It feels rare today.

Our community is full of independent people who don’t like being told what to think. That’s a strength. But independence only works if we can argue honestly without tearing each other apart in the process. This book doesn’t offer a program or a slogan. It offers a reminder of the habits that make self-government possible.

I would encourage anyone who finds themselves frustrated by the tone of public discourse, locally or nationally, to read it. We don’t need to agree more. We need to disagree better.