Listening to your phone without headphones, throwing your cigarette butt on the ground, speaking contemptuously to a waiter… Whether in the city or in the countryside, incivility takes various forms, but has this in common: it annoys, even worries. For fear of being moralistic, of having a disproportionate reaction to an attitude that ultimately seems insignificant, or even fearing the reaction of the interlocutor, many prefer to let it go.
However, if incivility is disturbing, perhaps it is due to its very deep roots. For sociologist and historian Richard Sennett, incivility is an obvious refusal of life in society. In fact, unlike politeness or courtesy, which are tinged with a certain elegance, etymologically, civility covers a set of rules, which allow scattered individuals to come together as one.
It is less a matter of coquetry than of a social contract, which maintains living together. In The Fall of Public Man (1974), Richard Sennett already feared incivility, such as “bearing on others with the full weight of one’s personality”. A symptom of an individualist society, incivility neglects the foundation of democracies, by downgrading the common good in favor of individual freedoms.
Raise awareness rather than repress
Understood as breaches of a set of rules, incivility requires learning. Head of the Environment and Health Command (CESAN), General Sylvain Noyau also notes that in terms of incivility, the first mission of the gendarmerie is not repression, but awareness.
“Let’s take an example. When we abandon our waste, beyond the visual or olfactory inconveniences, citizens do not always know the long-term consequences: soil pollution, particles flying into the air… and ultimately, public health issues. that these deposits generate. The first step in our work is therefore to identify the strongest or most common dangers, identify audiences who often act out of ignorance, and raise awareness through training, prevention and on-site presence. »
In terms of ecology – the primary concern of elected officials in terms of insecurity and incivility, according to Cesan – the boundaries of civility go far beyond those of democracy. It seems the first level of a common humanity. Reacting to incivility is becoming more important: it is our responsibility as men, for the good of all. The German philosopher Hans Jonas (1903-1993) called for action: “Act in such a way that the effects of your action are compatible with the permanence of an authentically human life on earth” (The Responsibility Principle1979).
Fear of aggression
In this vein, Nadjim Ouissa, 36 years old, an engineer from Lyon, does not hesitate to call out people who throw their waste in the street. If reacting is neither easy nor pleasant, the desired goal requires it. This is, again, what Hans Jonas announces: “ Fear (…) consubstantially linked to responsibility, is not that which dissuades action, but which invites action, (…) it is fear for the object of responsibility. »
However, Nadjim notices the aggressiveness of certain people, who feel judged or infantilized. “ I do not systematically intervenehe specifies. It depends on the situations and the people. » In fact, “there is no question of putting oneself in danger, recalls General Sylvain Noyau. Remember Jean-Mathieu Michel, mayor of Signes, in the Var, crushed after asking workers to throw their waste elsewhere. » But then, how to react?
When it is neither possible nor appropriate to react immediately, two solutions emerge. First by repairing the incivility committed. Pick up waste that is not yours, accompany a mistreated person, report incivility to a competent authority, in short, try to put right the harm that has been done.
Then, by acting upstream, by educating your children, by expressing discomfort in the face of a friend who demonstrates incivism, or by participating in associative actions. “Picking up trash on beaches is good, notes General Sylvain Noyau. But doing it with an NGO that will communicate widely on it has much more impact. It becomes awareness. » Hearts up, then! because for each incivility and each personality, a reaction exists.
