Berating Society
I just shot a casual email off to a good friend with just two words and no salutation:
jack ass
About 7.52 seconds after, I started to feel guilty about that email. My friend had just bought us all tickets to a cool concert, forget the fact I didn't know he was putting me up to $50 dollars in advance, but ultimately I want to go to this show so it was a nice gesture.
I, however, responded, even if totally tongue in check, with just that, a tongue in cheek lash out, supposed to be taken as hilarious machismo in today's vernacular.
Let's face it we're berating each other constantly in today's friendships, derogatory remarks-in-jest, passively humorous insults, there's a lot of self-deprecating humor out there, too. What I'm getting at is it may not be all that positive for our day to day lives and our relationships.
I'll augment this essay with studies on this topic if we can find any soon
posted by Charon @ 3/26/2008
1 Comments:
Thought this might interest you, tangentially related, "The Irony of Modern Manners"
In today's world, an odd flip seems to have taken place: where it was once considered rude to disturb the peace, it is overwhelmingly considered rude to chastise those who disturb the peace.
As an example, asking folks in a movie theatre to stop talking (or at least whisper) usually results, not in an apology, but in a horrified declaration of your rudeness. Similar outcomes occur when chastising cell-phone users and other loud-talkers in other public spaces.
In this example, a rider (John Clifford) on the LIRR was vindicated by a Manhattan Criminal Court Judge for attempting to enforce 'proper' behavior on the train.
Is it rude to talk loudly in a public arena, or is it rude to complain to those who talk loudly? Did Clifford go too far in chastising the loud passenger, or did the passenger's rude behavior justify his actions?
While Clifford may or may not have gone too far in his reactions, he definitely has my sympathy. My rationale is this: the folks who talk loudly in movie theatres, trains..etc. (and I'll throw in those folks who stand to the left on escalators) obviously could care less about the effects that their rude behavior has upon others. Unless they suffer some sort of negative reaction, they will never have any impetus to change their behavior. I applaud folks like Clifford who supply that negative reaction.
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