Photo by Sue Winston on Unsplash

A cancer has been growing in our national life. It has become so ingrained in our society that we barely notice.

In the 1940s and the decades that followed, there were certainly moments of disrespect—some private, some national—but they weren’t worn as badges of honor. Today, they’ve become normalized and set the tone in our national discourse.

Ethics specialist Michael Josephson teaches that civility, courtesy, and decency involve three basic principles:
“Treat others with consideration.
“Conform to accepted notions of taste and propriety in dealing with others.
“And never resort to intimidation, coercion, or violence. Tolerate other people’s beliefs and accept individual differences without prejudice.”

Seems simple. But in today’s political and cultural divide, simple… is not so simple.

Why can’t we see what is plainly before us?

If citizens who feel unheard, sidelined, or treated with contempt are genuinely seeking dignity, how did we arrive at a place where disrespect itself is deployed as a tactic to denigrate, dismiss, hurt, and in some cases, to incite violence against others?

Respect is fundamental, even sacred, to an orderly and cohesive society. It is one of the first lessons many of us were taught growing up. Yet today, it appears on the verge of extinction in the very place where it is needed most. And that very place has become a template for how we speak to one another, disagree with one another, and, too often, how we diminish one another.

When leaders mock, citizens mimic. When humiliation is reframed as strength, something deeper than manners is lost. The norms that once kept disagreement within the bounds of dignity have been lost. Public life becomes less about persuasion and more about performance. Less about truth and more about domination.

A culture that shrugs at contempt will eventually struggle to sustain trust. Without trust, communities weaken and civic life begins to crack. History teaches that democracies rarely collapse in a single dramatic moment. They decline gradually, as standards fall.

If we continue to treat respect as incidental—something quaint, something easily set aside—we will discover too late that it was essential. The warning signs are visible in our language, in our politics, and in our willingness to excuse what we would once have condemned.

The cancer of disrespect is growing. If we fail to confront this, it will continue to grow until what binds us is weaker than what divides us.