Teresa Bejan: Is civility a sham?
Teresa Bejan: ¿Es la civilidad una impostura?
Teresa Bejan writes about political theory, bringing historical perspectives to bear on contemporary questions. Full bio
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a book about civility,
un libro sobre civilidad,
American presidential election,
estadounidenses de 2016,
to come and talk about civility
para ir y hablar sobre civilidad
in American politics.
de eso en la política estadounidense.
that book about civility
escrito ese libro sobre civilidad
that civility is ...
de que la civilidad era...
like a highly uncivil thing to say,
como algo muy incívico de decir,
of civility and religious tolerance
de civilidad y tolerancia religiosa.
that there is a virtue of civility,
una virtud en la civilidad,
it's actually absolutely essential,
en realidad, es absolutamente esencial,
that promise not only to protect diversity
no solo proteger la diversidad,
even hateful disagreements
y, a veces, incluso odiosos
for "unpleasant."
un sinónimo de "no placentero".
Thomas Hobbes pointed out
inglés Thomas Hobbes
of disagreement is offensive.
de desacuerdo es ofensivo.
It works like this:
Funciona así:
that you are so very, very wrong?
de que Ud. está tan, tan errado?
come to a different conclusion
a una conclusión diferente
you must be stupid,
debes ser estúpido,
of your disagreeing with me
en desacuerdo conmigo es implícitamente
to my views, but to my intelligence, too.
sino también a mi inteligencia.
when the disagreements at stake
los desacuerdos que están en juego
consider to be fundamental,
consideramos fundamentales,
or to our identities.
o para nuestras identidades.
a los que me refiero.
of popular culture, at the dinner table,
cultura popular, en la mesa,
really, seriously disagree about,
está seriamente en desacuerdo
their opponents in the controversy.
oponentes en la controversia.
those fundamental disagreements
esos desacuerdos fundamentales
that tolerant societies
las sociedades tolerantes
propose to tolerate,
historically, at least,
históricamente, al menos,
the happy-clappy communities of difference
las comunidades felices de diferencia
where people have to hold their noses
tiene que aguantar la respiración
despite their mutual contempt.
de su mutuo desprecio.
from studying religious tolerance
estudiar la tolerancia religiosa
Inglaterra y EE. UU.
that the virtue that makes
if you will, possible,
si se quiere, posible,
our disagreements tolerable
nuestros desacuerdos
even if we don't share a faith --
juntos, incluso si no compartimos una fe,
o lo que sea.
talk about civility today --
gente habla de civilidad hoy
about civility a lot --
que se habla de civilidad!—
possible to tolerate disagreement
posible tolerar el desacuerdo
engage with our opponents,
interactuar con nuestros oponentes,
a strategy of disengagement.
una estrategia de desconexión.
to take your ball and go home
con tomar tu pelota e irte a casa
the sin of our opponents.
de nuestros oponentes.
propio mal comportamiento,
sudden-onset amnesia,
amnesia repentina,
as an appropriate response
como una respuesta apropiada
de nuestros oponentes.
who is set out to destroy
con alguien que está dispuesto a destruir
that most of today's big civility talkers
la mayoría de los grandes hablantes
bastante vagos y borrosos
civility actually entails.
que implica la civilidad realmente.
is simply a synonym for respect,
simplemente un sinónimo de respeto,
that to accuse someone of incivility
que acusar a alguien de incivilidad
than calling them impolite,
que llamarlos maleducados,
is to be potentially intolerable
potencialmente intolerable
simplemente ser grosero no lo es.
to accuse them of incivility,
acusarlo de incivilidad,
that they are somehow beyond the pale,
alguna manera más allá de lo inaceptable,
engaging with at all.
con ellos en absoluto.
that makes fundamental disagreement
que hace el desacuerdo fundamental
sometimes occasionally productive.
ocasionalmente productivo.
really, really difficult.
es muy, muy difícil.
complete bullshit,
una completa estupidez,
un poco incómodas para mí
about civility.
have been warning us for decades now
estado advirtiendo desde hace décadas
is facing a crisis of civility,
a una crisis de civilidad,
on technological developments,
a los avances tecnológicos,
talk radio, social media.
la radio, las redes sociales.
of disagreement,
edad de oro del desacuerdo,
that the first modern crisis of civility
que la primera crisis moderna de civilidad
named Martin Luther
teología llamado Martín Lutero
in communications technology,
tecnología de las comunicaciones,
the Protestant Reformation.
la Reforma protestante.
as the Twitter of the 16th century,
desean, como el Twitter del siglo XVI.
i.e. Catholic, opponents.
es decir, a los católicos.
clutched their pearls
católicos empuñaron sus perlas
they gave as good as they got
dieron tanto como recibieron
as an insult.
como un insulto.
civility talk, then as now,
entonces como ahora,
your opponent for going low,
a su oponente de insultar,
of the moral high ground
sets up the speaker
establece al orador
while implicitly, subtly stigmatizing
implícitamente, estigmatiza sutilmente
to disagree as uncivil.
con la temeridad de discrepar.
en el siglo XVII se convierten
becomes a really effective way
miembros del establecimiento religioso
outside of the established church,
de la iglesia establecida,
against the status quo.
en contra del 'statu quo'.
could lecture atheists
podrían sermonear a los ateos
y ponerse sus sombreros
de estrechar la mano.
of shaking hands.
pretexts for persecution.
en pretextos para la persecución.
protesters in the 20th century.
de derechos civiles en el siglo XX.
why partisans on both sides of the aisle
en ambos lados del espectro
frankly, antiquated,
francamente, anticuado,
de la civilidad,
that certain people and certain views
ciertas personas y ciertos puntos de vista
themselves the trouble
yo tiendan a poner los ojos en blanco.
tend to roll our eyes
conversational virtue begin,
a la virtud conversacional,
our social and political divisions,
divisiones sociales y políticas,
is actually making the problem worse.
en realidad empeora el problema.
of actually speaking to each other,
de hablar entre nosotros,
past each other or at each other
a otros o el uno al otro
which side we're on.
de qué lado estamos.
one might be forgiven, as I did,
ser perdonado, como lo hice,
de civilidad es una estupidez
so much civility talk is bullshit,
must be bullshit, too.
también debe ser una estupidez.
historical perspective goes a long way.
de perspectiva histórica va muy lejos.
early modern crisis of civility
moderna temprana de civilidad
to protect disagreement
a proteger el desacuerdo,
was the virtue of civility.
fue la virtud de la civilidad.
for us to share a life,
that is perhaps less aspirational
tal vez sea menos aspiracional
who talk about civility a lot today
mucho de civilidad hoy
"mere civility."
a esa virtud "mera civilidad".
that allows us to get through
la virtud que nos permite superar.
of the other party.
un miembro de la otra parte.
is to meet a low bar grudgingly,
cumplir una barra baja a regañadientes,
that's meant to help us disagree,
es una virtud destinada
y como Hobbes nos dijo hace tantos siglos,
all those centuries ago,
for a reason.
desagradable por una razón.
what exactly is civility or mere civility?
exactamente civilidad o mera civilidad?
as being respectful or polite,
cuando tratamos con esas personas
when we're dealing with those people
or maybe even impossible, to respect.
o incluso imposible, de respetar.
can't be the same as being nice,
ser lo mismo que ser amable,
people what you really think about them
la gente lo que realmente piensas de ellos
equivocados, incorrectos.
decir lo que piensas,
means not pulling our punches,
no andarse con rodeos,
not landing all those punches all at once,
mostrar todo el desacuerdo a la vez.
to disagree fundamentally,
fundamentalmente,
the possibility of a common life tomorrow
la posibilidad de una vida en común mañana
are standing in our way today.
se interponen en nuestro camino hoy.
civility is actually closely related
la civilidad está realmente relacionada
to make yourself disagreeable,
tener el coraje de ser desagradable,
se queda en la habitación
calling bullshit on people's civility talk
a la charla de la civilidad de la gente
lo único cívico que hacer.
from studying the long history
de estudiar la larga historia
in the 17th century, it's this:
en el siglo XVII, es esto:
as a way to avoid an argument,
una forma de evitar una discusión,
in the more agreeable company
que ya están de acuerdo contigo,
who already agree with you,
never actually speaking to anyone
disagrees with you,
fundamentalmente en desacuerdo contigo,
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Teresa Bejan - Political theorist, authorTeresa Bejan writes about political theory, bringing historical perspectives to bear on contemporary questions.
Why you should listen
Teresa Bejan is Associate Professor of Political Theory and Fellow of Oriel College at the University of Oxford. She received her PhD with distinction from Yale in 2013 and was awarded the American Political Science Association's 2015 Leo Strauss Award for the best dissertation in political philosophy. In 2016 she was elected as the final Balzan-Skinner Fellow in Modern Intellectual History at Cambridge. Her inaugural lecture, "Acknowledging Equality," can be viewed here. Bejan publishes regularly in popular and scholarly venues and has taught at universities across the US, Canada, and the UK.
Bejan's first book, Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration (Harvard University Press, 2017) was called "penetrating and sophisticated" by the New York Times, and her work has been featured on PBS, WNYC, CBC radio, Philosophy Bites and other podcasts. In addition to her many articles in academic journals and edited volumes, she has written on free speech and civility for The Atlantic and The Washington Post.
Teresa Bejan | Speaker | TED.com