August 21, 2011

Missed Manners

Miss Manners is an advice column which is carried in more than 200 newspapers worldwide, in which Judith Martin (the writer of the column) answers etiquette questions contributed by her readers and writes short essays on problems of manners, or clarifies the essential qualities of politeness. Here are questions and answers found in the Washington Post.

Have people today forgotten about manners, etiquette and politeness? In the online community we live in, where we are just sitting in front of out computer screens instead of in front of an actual person; do we forget that manners still apply? Or do we think we can say anything we want, no matter how rude or sarcastic because we hide behind a certain anonymity? We may have some personal information and the best pictures of ourselves online, but that is not the person we really are.

People are no longer polite when driving! It seems to me that people are more and more aggressive on the roads. I think it's that anonymity again. The cities we live in no one knows our cars and therefore we think we can be rude and aggressive and get away with it.

I even see this more and more in person too. I increasingly see people being rude or obnoxious to a stranger or making some downgrading remark about someone even when the person is within hearing range. I am amazed at how rude some people are!

Have y'all thought about this? Have y'all noticed how rude people can be? I know some may say it's just funny sarcasm, but I'd rather people just be genuine and be nice!

4 comments:

Buddy Bear said...

Here, I constant notice now polite and helpful people are to strangers in public.... opening doors for you, helping if your car has broken down or reaching for a item from a top shelf in a store. Two factors explain this:

1. Canadians like to think of themselves as being extremely polite and happy, and for the most part, I think they are.

2. I live in a small(ish) Canadian town, where if you don't know everyone, you would certainly know their brother, best friend or whomever. There is little anonymity here as every time I'm out in public, I'll see at least several people I know.

Cubby said...

There was a guy at my Chicago job who was a real jerk. He'd say bad things about someone, and to someone's face even, then follow it up quickly with "just kidding", as if that makes it all ok. He was the owner's son and we all felt trapped. Blood is thicker than water, after all.

anne marie in philly said...

I think 98% of adults I meet are nice, polite, and helpful. The other 2% I want to feed to the sharks!

that being said, most parents are NOT teaching their little bratleys ANY manners! screaming, running around restaurants, throwing food, constant whining is met with "oh look, isn't he CUTE?" no, he is an SOB asking to be smacked hard on the ass!

Ur-spo said...

This is a long time issue for me. I think it stems from a couple of reasons, but I suspect the chief one is society allowing bad manners to get results viz. loud/rudeness is no longer put down but given into. I see this at the airports, in shops, restaurants etc. If we all stood up and said 'no', including management, then our sibling society may have a chance to grow up and behave.