Steven Petrow: 3 ways to practice civility
Steven Petrow: Tre modi per praticare la civiltà
Journalist Steven Petrow writes about manners and civility. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
two things about myself
col dirvi due cose di me
about manners and civility
and as a magazine columnist.
of inviting me over for dinner
nell'invitarmi a cena
that happens at the table
and I can see through the portals, too.
vedo anche attraverso le porte.
and a dinner party that I went to.
a cui ho partecipato nel 2015.
was first coming out,
aveva dichiarato la sua omossessualità
as a transgender activist.
di attivista transgender.
in People magazine at the time,
per la rivista People
la nostra identità.
erases us in a certain way.
in un certo modo ci cancellano.
but also the use of her pronouns.
ho usato il pronome femminile.
delicious, wonderful, fun --
meravigliosa, divertente,
about Caitlyn Jenner.
su Caitlyn Jenner.
disrespectful for Caitlyn Jenner
da parte di Caitlyn Jenner
e di nuovi pronomi.
and to use these new pronouns.
and because I do meditation,
e siccome faccio meditazione,
prima di rispondere.
that when she got married,
because it's her legal name,
è il suo nome legale,
per una forma di rispetto.
and we didn't speak for years.
e non ci siamo parlati per anni.
that you're not that familiar with.
che non avete mai sentito.
and the French,
who tries to live by a moral code,
che nella vita segue un codice morale,
for the good of the city,
per il bene della città,
for the larger good.
per il bene supremo.
three new ways to be civil, I hope,
di essere civili, spero,
to the original definition of civility.
di civiltà.
nel nostro Paese.
a dirty word in this country.
or whether you lean left.
a destra o a sinistra.
equates civility with decorum,
che accosta civiltà a decoro,
al comportamento formale.
from the idea of citizenship.
dall'idea di cittadinanza.
about my friends on the right,
dei miei amici di destra,
what they call political correctness.
ciò che chiamano "politicamente corretto".
what George Orwell wrote in "1984" --
scrisse nel libro "1984" --
to change the way we talk
il modo in cui parliamo
the language that we use.
della lingua che usiamo.
by changing the meaning of words.
cambiando il significato delle parole.
might have had some of that
sia stata vittima
about then-candidate Donald Trump.
candidato Donald Trump.
for total political correctness,
per il politicamente corretto,
the country did either.
e nemmeno il Paese ci credeva.
about that online, as you can imagine.
come potete immaginare.
and this one stood out to me
e questa mi colpì
is a pathological system
è un sistema patologico
a conversation,
dominare una conversazione,
the opposition."
e annichilire l'opposizione."
civility translates into censure.
la civiltà si traduce in censura.
also have a problem with it.
hanno un problema.
dell'amministrazione Trump
Trump administration officials
they've been called out as nasty,
maleducati e disgustosi
l'anno scorso,
Washington Post --
che sosteneva il decoro.
should be allowed to dine in peace.
avevano il diritto a cenare in pace.
is the real incivility here.
the separation of families."
la separazione delle famiglie."
in this country,
si fosse schierato,
throughout our history.
nel corso della storia.
for women in the 1920s.
alle donne negli anni '20.
the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.,
Martin Luther King Jr.,
nonviolent civil disobedience.
non violenta in America.
to promote racial and economic justice.
giustizia razziale e economica.
a problem, a dirty word, here.
un problema, una parola scomoda.
that we can't speak our minds?
disaccordo, non possiamo dire la nostra?
Dr. Carolyn Lukensmeyer.
il Dottor Carolyn Lukensmeyer.
of civility in this country,
della civiltà nel nostro Paese,
for Civil Discourse.
del Discorso Civile"
or avoiding important differences.
o evitare le differenze importanti.
about those differences with respect."
di quelle differenze con rispetto."
we need to do that.
dobbiamo fare così.
it needs boundaries.
di regole e limiti.
that is simply rude or demeaning,
maleducato o degradante,
hatred and intolerance.
of racial and ethnic groups,
call this speech "hate speech."
la chiamiamo "lingua dell'odio".
può sfociare in violenza.
about Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.
Dott.ssa Christine Blasey Ford.
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh
alla Corte Suprema Brett Kavanaugh
a personal message,
10 of them were the f-bomb.
10 di cui parolacce.
President Obama was called out,
furono chiamati in causa,
vulgar and coarse way.
in modo volgare e grezzo.
in that message,
una minaccia esplicita,
sent it to authorities.
lo consegnarono alle autorità.
were sent to other media outlets,
di ordigni rudimentali alla stampa,
kind of on guard there.
only a few months before,
at a Maryland newspaper.
in un giornale del Maryland.
by a reader with a grudge.
started stalking me online.
a perseguitarmi online.
in questo periodo.
my Christmas decorations up
le decorazioni di Natale
decorations down."
le decorazioni di Natale."
was off leash one day,
era senza guinzaglio,
che fossi andato al supermercato.
that I had gone to the market.
he came to my door, my front door,
alla mia porta di ingresso,
to break the door down.
Louisville Slugger.
from turning violent?
diventi orribile e violenta?
è ridimensionare i toni.
trigger words in print.
parole incendiarie negli articoli.
"homophobe," I mean "racist,"
"omofobo", "razzista",
to find common ground.
un territorio comune.
to find a common heart.
un sentire comune.
when John McCain died in 2018,
John McCain morì nel 2018,
that he never made personal attacks.
che non aveva mai attaccato personalmente.
what was really noteworthy.
he challenged their positions,
le loro posizioni,
is not only an American one.
non riguarda solo l'America.
for a civility offensive right now,
per offese alla civiltà
del "Verhuftering".
under a spell of "verhuftering."
and I did quite a bit of research.
quindo ho fatto un po' di ricerche.
and the disappearance of good manners.
e scomparsa delle buone maniere.
but that's what I'm saying here.
ma questo è quel che affermo qui.
to describe a problem like that,
che indica un problema del genere,
the [2016] Brexit vote ...
il voto per la Brexit del 2016
a nation even more so.
called those who favor it --
quelli in favore dell'uscita --
lizard brain of Britain."
e campanilista della Gran Bretagna."
lizard brain of Britain.
e campanilista della Gran Bretagna.
di Downton Abbey
as fabulous as Dame Maggie Smith.
favolosa come la dama Maggie Smith.
It's so middle class.]
È così borghese.]
and they make these amazing scones.
che fa scones deliziosi.
there are a lot of scones.
ma c'erano molti scones.
the scones were disappearing
in between me and that last scone.
rimase solo la donna davanti me.
"I'll have a croissant."
"I'll take that scone."
chiesi lo scone.
non l'avevo notato -
"E tu chi saresti?
and you're behind me."
e tu sei dietro di me."
not that far from here.
non lontano da qui.
very civil here and so on,
ognuno di voi a terra, per un taxi.
in this room, on these streets.
when I said to this guy ...
quando risposi al tizio...
and I could see his face change
and we'll share both of them?"
e dividiamo anche di quello?"
sexual orientation, occupation.
orientamento sessuale, lavoro
through this moment of connection,
di connessione
we have stayed in touch.
siamo rimasti in contatto.
that I'm called the Civilist after that.
che mi chiamino Civilista.
not just the trouble we avoid,
non solo il male che evitiamo
di essere incivili.
I mean connection.
la connessione.
and as a country and as a world.
in quanto mondo.
civil war of ideas and identity.
guerra civile di idee e identità.
is treated humanely,
venga trattato con dignità
a Geneva Convention of civility,
una Convenzione di Ginevra della civiltà,
for the parameters of that.
e i suoi parametri.
of our communities and of our countries.
per le comunità e i Paesi.
on the original definition of civility,
sulla definizione originale di civiltà,
for the greater good.
per il bene supremo.
understanding, is not a dirty word.
connotazione, non sia una parolaccia.
or will not stay, obsolete.
o non rimanga obsoleto.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Steven Petrow - Journalist, authorJournalist Steven Petrow writes about manners and civility.
Why you should listen
Steven Petrow is an award-winning journalist and book author who is best known for his Washington Post and New York Times essays on civility and manners, aging and cancer. He was recently named as an opinion columnist for the USA TODAY Network.
When Petrow's last book, Steven Petrow's Complete Gay and Lesbian Manners: The Definitive Guide to LGBT Life, was published, TIME magazine commented (in a full-length feature): "Move over, Emily Post! When it comes to etiquette … author and journalist Steven Petrow is the authority." Previously, Petrow penned the New York Times’s "Civil Behavior" advice column and "Digital Dilemmas" for Parade magazine. His work has been published in TIME, The Atlantic, Salon, the Daily Beast, the Los Angeles Times and The Advocate.
You're likely to hear Petrow when you turn on NPR's "All Things Considered Weekend," or one of your favorite (or least favorite) TV networks (MSNBC, PBS, CBS, Fox and CNN). Petrow also served as the host and executive producer of "The Civilist," a podcast from Public Radio International and North Carolina Public Radio WUNC.
A former president of NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists, Petrow has been nominated for a Lambda Literary Award and The Publishing Triangle's Randy Shilts Award for Gay Non-Fiction and is a winner of several literary prizes, including the American Library Association's/ForeWord Magazine Book Silver Award for Reference.
Petrow is the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including those from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Smithsonian Institution, the Ucross Foundation, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the National Press Foundation. In 2017, he became the named sponsor of the Petrow LGBTQ Fellowship at the VCCA, a prize that is awarded annually. Petrow, with three degrees from Duke University and the University of California, Berkeley, lives in Hillsborough, N.C.
Steven Petrow | Speaker | TED.com