Most adults have noted a decline in public civility over the last twenty years or so. It manifest itself in various forms: the irritating (talking in a movie theater), the depressing (rude comments by talking heads on television and radio, the demonization of public figures, etc.), and the scary (road rage, intimidation tactics aimed at silencing political opponents, and so on). The internet, for all its wonderful usefulness, is a showcase of incivility, especially when it comes to political blogs, perhaps due to the relative anonymity of bloggers and folks who post in forums. When you aren't talking with somebody face to face, it increases the temptation, for some people, to say something rude, insulting, or simply false.

Thankfully, there are some hopeful signs that some measure of civil discourse might be regained, at least in some quarters. Daniel Henniger of the Wall Street Journal wrote an interesting op-ed about the phenomenon, primarily focused the potential impact of the "Blogger's Code of Conduct" by Bill O'Reilly. I hope it catches on.