this is why we can't have nice things

I am pretty careful with social media. I don't often post about religion or politics on facebook or twitter, very seldom do I even mention these things on my personal blog. They are private and personal things. I am happy to discuss them with you if you can play nice, but I don't really want to argue my position with some guy I only know because he was in my tenth grade geography class. He's not interested in why I believe what I do, he just wants to tell me I'm wrong whilst being condescending and that's a very different sort of discussion. I get it. We don't all agree on stuff. Any stuff. And sometimes, we feel really, really strongly about said stuff. I totally get that too. I'm right there with you. I feel really strongly about some stuff. What I don't understand is exactly when our society lost the ability to behave like adults. When did the fact that someone disagrees with you become a personal insult? When did it become acceptable to screech at each other like harpies on national television? When did being hateful and mean become an acceptable way to express your views? I don't understand what happened to civil discourse. Emphasis on the civil. I am embarrassed and appalled by the behavior of almost every single person who supposedly represents me, irregardless of political party. It has become the standard to be proud of the fact that everyone refuses to compromise on anything. Which means absolutely nothing ever gets done. None of us should be expecting to get our way all the time. That's not how democracy is supposed to work and it's why ours isn't working. We have to compromise to move forward. We have to give each other the benefit of the doubt, to assume that even when we disagree about the best way to do things, that what we all want is to create a safe, healthy, prosperous place full of opportunity for everyone. There is no perfect way forward, and we will stumble, but if we don't learn to work together we will stagnate and that, I would argue, is far, far worse.