One page on civil discourse.

I asked AI to write a 250-word essay on this topic. Never have I tried that before. The results were impressive and frightful. I’ll never have to think again.

Anyway, in my own words (perhaps) I shall fill in some verbiage on civil discourse. Civil Disc Course. I hope all those courses are civil, of course.

Seriously now. My friend owns a gym, and in it there is a large whiteboard on which he lists torturous exercises of pain and humiliation. Tucked in the corner there is usually a motivational quote, so in the middle of a group training session I can read it and weep.

Saturday I took him up on getting in an extra workout. There was no quote on the whiteboard. I grabbed a marker and wrote: Say what you mean, mean what you say, but don’t say it in a mean way.

Later he texted me. ‘What do you mean by this?’

His playful retort went sailing over my head. I caught on eventually with a little help from my friend.

His question was the answer. Civil discourse is not talking heads sideswiping each other. Neither is posting around social media to get a point across. It is the art of inquiry. Learning to ask good questions to get to the trailhead of another’s view of things helps in civility.

Civil discourse is necessary for society, wouldn’t you agree? (That was a question) AI sure was tempting, but my friend spelled it out simply in jest.

“What do you mean by this?”