The Etiquette of America
posted by queen_spoo | 12:44 PM 
I came across some interesting articles today that address different societal behaviors. The first talked about the extreme use of Political Correctness (PC) in England. One example this author used included the following vignette:
The second article discussed the decline of courtesy in our country. It appears that our society has become more and more inconsiderate (or oblivious) over the years. Here is an example that she mentions that I'm sure to which many can relate:
If America continues to go the way of Britain, increasing the already ridiculous PC ideology to the extreme, and continues to decrease their sense of courtesy and consideration, where will that leave us?
Incidentally, one "bobby" asked my "partner" and me to move along. I explained that the "partner" is my wife to which he said, "Sir, we're under strict orders to not discriminate like that." Huh? Must have something to do with not offending nontraditional "domestic partnerships."
The second article discussed the decline of courtesy in our country. It appears that our society has become more and more inconsiderate (or oblivious) over the years. Here is an example that she mentions that I'm sure to which many can relate:
As for cell phones, they've always been the devil's work. They make what's private public and are the height of narcissism: Listen to meeeeeeee!... These people are so self-centered they seem to forget they can set their phones on "vibrate" and still get their calls. Clearly, they're techno-morons.... Confession time: Whenever I see somebody stupid using a cell phone in public and being loud about it, as if they were the only person on the planet at that moment, I want to tell them they may be risking brain cancer. But that would be ... rude, wouldn't it?
If America continues to go the way of Britain, increasing the already ridiculous PC ideology to the extreme, and continues to decrease their sense of courtesy and consideration, where will that leave us?
1 Comments:
i have 2 brief mobile phone stories:
1. when in Germany in 2003, i had the occasion to spend a good amount of time on the stellar public transport system (trains and buses). i remember only once a phone ringing and was stunned at the embarrassment of the "offender", who quickly and softly said "i am on the bus, i'll call you later." that registered with me and the rest of the trip i noticed that people were very discrete about their public mobile phone usage.
2. particularly annoying to me are those idjits who carry on conversations on mobile phones in that most awkward of situations - the elevator. i see this all the time in Richmond. i work in a building that has a lot of outside visitors from the more "distressed" classes of society (the public defender's office, among others, is here). "distressed" perhaps in overall financial terms, but not so "distressed" as to not be able to afford a mobile phone. but then, i do admit they are something of a necessity today. in any event...
my rambling point is that this is a learned behavior. my wife just phoned me and needed to talk immediately, but i was in a lunch line. so i phoned her back as soon as i was able to get out of the public line. that's another thing:
3. it's so bad that restaurants and other service-oriented businesses have had to display signs asking patrons NOT TO USE THEIR MOBILE PHONES WHILE BEING SERVED. there's one such sign downstairs in the lunch line i just mentioned.
it all comes down to an overarching failure of a stable parental relationship influencing directly the children who come from that family. broken families have many cracks and such behavior flows directly from those cracks. such is why schools are in such poor shape as well; parents are not teaching their kids what they need to learn to BE ABLE TO LEARN IN SCHOOL, so schools are having to try to teach those fundamentals FIRST. the problem is, teachers have been stripped of their authority to ENFORCE those fundamentals - thus, the kids do not imbibe of those necessary rules of the good life. and we all suffer.
my prescription: the next person you hear mention he is considering divorce or admits having an affair - or doing anything that seriously threatens his marriage - i suggest you open your palm and strike him firmly across the cheek closest to you. if it is a woman mentioning such things, i suggest you go to her husband and enquire about his reaction. my guess is he is doing something / not-doing-something which is precipitating these actions/thoughts in his wife. in such case, render unto him a substantial slap.
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