Johnson urges civil discourse in USD commencement address

Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) speaks at the University of South Dakota's 2021 commencement ceremony.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) — Rep. Dusty Johnson preached political civility to graduates at the University of South Dakota Saturday.

Speaking at the DakotaDome in Vermillion, Johnson encouraged graduates to think critically and not get too angry when discussing politics, saying they should be “engaged, not enraged.”

“Today’s politics are dominated too little by the critical thinking, facts and evidence of your liberal arts education, and dominated too much by anger, fear and outrage,” Johnson said.

The congressman, who graduated from USD with a political science degree in 1999, also encouraged those in attendance to seek out information from reliable news sources instead of Facebook and Twitter. He told graduates to amplify those striving for constructive conversations.

“Many on the right and the left who most claim to champion love or tolerance are the quickest to condemn or cast out those voices different than their own,” Johnson said. “We all too often view people who disagree with us not as fellow Americans, but as enemies.”

The 2021 graduation at USD was held on time, though graduates and speakers wore masks for much of the ceremony. South Dakota’s spring 2020 commencement ceremony was postponed to October due to the COVID-19 pandemic.