*Lightbulb Moment* Why people act brash at disney world! (IMO)

[Magpie]

No way. People are more intolerant than I've ever seen.

My dad was a Republican and my mom is a Democrat. They got married in 1971.

Do you think a Republican and Democrat would get married today? People aren't even Facebook friends with those from a different political party. I've had lifelong friends "de-friend" me after I talked about politics on Facebook.

There's a reason political discussions are forbidden on this website.

We are a completely INTOLERANT culture. And, frankly, we HATE those from the other political party.

I think a big reason for bad behavior at Disney World is that we've been taught, by politicians, that it's OK to "Hate" the "other". If you listen to campaign commercials they are always putting devil horns on their opponent. They are rarely positive, they are almost exclusively negative.

If I've been told that it's expected to "hate" the "other" why wouldn't that attitude follow me out of politics and into every aspect of my life?

And yet civil rights has progressed in ways that would have been unthinkable in the seventies.

As for hatred and intolerance increasing - may I direct you to the Tulsa Race riot of 1921. Segregation. MacCarthyism. How Superman defeated the Ku Klux Klan (that one at least is a happy story - Google it!).

There are so many people working to make this world a better place, it makes me quite optimistic for the future.

Did you know that Norwegian summer camp, site of the 2011 massacre, just reopened this past week? The kids are back, and working for a better tomorrow!

 

[JimmyV]

If you think that's a new development, may I direct you to a history book? Politics have been dirty since day one.

Today's political hatred has nothing on Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. That's the political battle against which all others are measured.

But in a way, both DVCcurious and Magpie are both correct. Political ******* is very high right now, with "compromise" being a four letter word. But one cannot compare the social acceptance of differences that exists today to any other era. People are far more tolerant of pretty much everything...except politics.

 

[seashoreCM]

Urinalysis ... autocorrect?

Long long time ago, you went to an office when you wanted to email someone. They charged you by the word, so you sometimes chose long single words each of which sounded like two or more words you really wanted to say. (The email was transmitted to another office near where the recipient lived and someone named Rolf hand delivered the paper printout to the recipient.)

Back then, Craigs List was the same way. You called an office and you were charged by the word and your ad appeared in a section near the back of the newspaper. (People used correct words but usually not complete sentences.)

How long ago? These technologies were in full swing in the 1960's when my family and I waited in long lines at a New York world's fair, out in the hot summer sun, for what seemed like an eternity (I didn't time it using a watch) to see things like Carousel of Progress and It's a Small World and ride on a monorail. I don't recall seeing individuals let alone groups all wearing the same color T-shirt cutting in line or running into you with strollers.

 

[EvieBug]

That makes an incredible amount of sense. I remember a mom we saw at Animal Kingdom with her three year old that was telling the poor kid "Your mad, Mommy's mad, Daddy's mad and you have ruined our vacation!" Wow - a lot to stick on a three year old!

Awww, that's horrible. :-(

 

[Magpie]

Awww, that's horrible. :-(

I always tell myself it's possible we just saw one regrettably miserable moment in an otherwise happy, loving vacation. We all have them.

I have a pic in my collection of my son (then 7) and my husband looking furious at each other. My son had gotten up up that morning doing his best Eeyore impression, and by the time we got to the car his dad was ready to throttle him. I believe my husband may have actually told my son that his attitude was ruining our vacation. I do know he threatened to pack all of us back into the car and go home, which is the point at which I put MY foot down and told them to both zip it and smile for the photo.

We hadn't even got out of the parking lot yet!

 

[eyehartdisney]

My mum has over 40 years of teaching experience, and I grew up in university housing, listening to her and her colleges vent. Every teacher I've ever known starts talking about the decline of civility, competence and quality in their students after a few years of teaching. But here's the thing - they were complaining about this in the seventies!

I used to believe them, but as the decades rolled on, I got suspicious. The very students they're holding up as examples of a better era were the same students I heard teachers complaining about the first time around.

I've come to the conclusion our memories play tricks on us. It smoothes off the rough edges, highlights the good and bad, and bathes everything in nostalgia. I loved how Inside Out showed how we can forget that our best memory might also be our worst.

I suspect people haven't changed much over the last many centuries. Some are good, some are bad, most are just plain human and imperfect.

The generation that came before you ruined everything, and the one that comes after you is rude, lazy, and disrespectful. This is true regardless of what generation you're from. I bet we could go back to the cave dwellers and they'd say the same thing.

People always throw around the point of view that its so violent now and society is going down the tube, I usually bring up the point that less than a 100 years ago it was perfectly ok in some parts of this country to hang people for no other reason that their skin color and womens rights were thought of as a joke. But people spend so much time on the internet and social media that they think every single person is out to get them, mankind as a whole is infinitely more evolved and civilized than at any other point in human history. So smile and be glad you're lucky enough to be around for it.

And violent crime has actually gone down since violent video games have come out!



I think rude behavior is easy to explain at disney. You're off your regular sleep schedule. You're hot, you're tired, you aren't in familiar settings. There is stimulation everywhere. Then there's pressure of limited time, and large amounts of money involved. It's less a question of why there is rude behavior at disney and more of a question of why there isn't MORE rude behavior.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I think rude behavior is easy to explain at disney. You're off your regular sleep schedule. You're hot, you're tired, you aren't in familiar settings. There is stimulation everywhere. Then there's pressure of limited time, and large amounts of money involved. It's less a question of why there is rude behavior at disney and more of a question of why there isn't MORE rude behavior.

I think all of these reasons factor in. I would add in the food (lots of sugar, salt, junk food). And I agree, it is kind of a miracle that there isnt more rude behavior when you think about it!

 

[nilla]

The generation that came before you ruined everything, and the one that comes after you is rude, lazy, and disrespectful. This is true regardless of what generation you're from. I bet we could go back to the cave dwellers and they'd say the same thing.

Yay for this comment!

Can I also add that every single president in US history was "the worst ever" and "destroying a once-proud America" while in office, depending on whom you ask?

 

[MakiraMarlena]

That might make a lot of sense if the rudeness was just about stuff you had to pay for. But it's not. It's everywhere.

There are all kinds of examples of people mowing other people down to get free stuff.

 

[Summertinkerbell]

That might make a lot of sense if the rudeness was just about stuff you had to pay for. But it's not. It's everywhere.

There are all kinds of examples of people mowing other people down to get free stuff.

One of the reasons I avoid Black Friday sales. No deal is worth it.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

I think all of these reasons factor in. I would add in the food (lots of sugar, salt, junk food). And I agree, it is kind of a miracle that there is more rude behavior when you think about it!

Definitely! Until I discovered that I CAN eat fun and healthy (and particularly GF!) and at the parks, we would always get in the worst fights as a family! I have since figured out that if I don't eat GF and generally low sugar, no matter if I walk 12 miles a day, I'm going to end up balling my eyes out and my honey is going to want to lock me out of the room! Lessons learned, and thankyouverymuch Disney for the GF offerings! Who wants to be depressed on vacay? Not this gal! Especially because most of us (ahem mainly speaking for myself) have been on super strict awesome diets leading up to the trip, managed to fit into my tiny clothes, and then wala! It's finally here! And now, we eat for fun! (Cue subsequent depressing/aggressive gluten/sugar induced arguments!)

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

One of the reasons I avoid Black Friday sales. No deal is worth it.

We retreat to a primitive campsite in the woods with our dogs and ride ATVs all T-giving weekend long! That's my idea of getting away from it all!

 

[bjakmom]

Back in the 80s and early 90s rope drop was treacherous - nothing new there. People literally ran full out and people fell down and got hurt and got run over. That is why they started stationing more CMs along the route to yell at the runners. When that didn't work they started holding the rope between CMs and making you walk slowly behind them to the targeted attractions. What seems to have worked best of all is the staggered opening, eliminating the opening shows which hold guests in a contained area and then set them all off at once like a massed herd of crazy people. lol

 

[smiths02]

I agree with JimmyV that the crowding and scheduling has a lot to do with it.

 

[Mousemommy1]

It doesn't explain all bad behavior, but probably a good portion of it. People who spend all of that money suddenly feel entitled to a perfect experience.

 

[JimmyV]

People who spend all of that money suddenly feel entitled to a perfect experience.

Probably equal parts money and effort. Remember Clark W. Griswold from the first "Vacation" movie? I can't quote what he said verbatim due to Board rules, but it went something like this:

We're all going to have so much [flipping] fun, we'll need plastic surgery to remove our [gosh darn] smiles.
You'll be whistling "Zip-A-Dee-Do-Dah" out of your [posterior].

But his angst was driven (pun intended) more by the stress of putting the trip together and by the travails of the journey than by money. Trying to put together a "perfect" WDW (or Wallyworld) vacation is hard work. And after people jump through all the hoops and try to create perfection, the feel that they are entitled to perfection. Some if it is money. But a lot of it is simply the stress of planning and executing. When you set your alarm clock, got up at the crack of dawn, and made your ADR for 7:00 p.m. at Ohana exactly 180+10 days in advance, you feel entitled to be seated at 7:00 p.m. No one could possibly be ahead of you in the pecking order. So what happens when you check in at the podium at 6:50 and are given a UFO light-up-thing-a-ma-bob and have to wait 45 minutes? Rudeness ensues!

 

[Angel Ariel]

No way. People are more intolerant than I've ever seen.

My dad was a Republican and my mom is a Democrat. They got married in 1971.

Do you think a Republican and Democrat would get married today? People aren't even Facebook friends with those from a different political party. I've had lifelong friends "de-friend" me after I talked about politics on Facebook.

There's a reason political discussions are forbidden on this website.

We are a completely INTOLERANT culture. And, frankly, we HATE those from the other political party.

I think a big reason for bad behavior at Disney World is that we've been taught, by politicians, that it's OK to "Hate" the "other". If you listen to campaign commercials they are always putting devil horns on their opponent. They are rarely positive, they are almost exclusively negative.

If I've been told that it's expected to "hate" the "other" why wouldn't that attitude follow me out of politics and into every aspect of my life?

DH and I are different parties. Heck, I'm a different party than my parents too, and some friends as well. We don't hate each other :

 

[Mousemommy1]

Probably equal parts money and effort. Remember Clark W. Griswold from the first "Vacation" movie? I can't quote what he said verbatim due to Board rules, but it went something like this:

We're all going to have so much [flipping] fun, we'll need plastic surgery to remove our [gosh darn] smiles.
You'll be whistling "Zip-A-Dee-Do-Dah" out of your [posterior].

But his angst was driven (pun intended) more by the stress of putting the trip together and by the travails of the journey than by money. Trying to put together a "perfect" WDW (or Wallyworld) vacation is hard work. And after people jump through all the hoops and try to create perfection, the feel that they are entitled to perfection. Some if it is money. But a lot of it is simply the stress of planning and executing. When you set your alarm clock, got up at the crack of dawn, and made your ADR for 7:00 p.m. at Ohana exactly 180+10 days in advance, you feel entitled to be seated at 7:00 p.m. No one could possibly be ahead of you in the pecking order. So what happens when you check in at the podium at 6:50 and are given a UFO light-up-thing-a-ma-bob and have to wait 45 minutes? Rudeness ensues!

I get that. I think people forget that they are on vacation....and really just need to relax! Easier said than done, I know.

 

[Jess_S]

I've seen numerous post about how rude folks are or how someone was wronged or disrespected, etc. and they get on the disboards and describe their woes and some sympathize with them and some disagree. Rarely do I see them post comments about how they confronted the actual person causing them grief.

I think rude behavior sometimes is enabled because they feel no one will call them on it! Not promoting picking a fight but just standing up for yourself. If someone pushes my kid to the ground trying to get somewhere, they will hear about it. If someone is cutting line I'll block them and ask what are they doing? If someone is cussing in public, I'll ask them to stop. I've been told to mind my own business and they usually get mad at me (thankfully none have hit me) but most times they alter their behavior.

I've been chewed out many times on these disboards for a viewpoint or maybe a strategy or whatever but I bet if those same folks saw me in the park they would say nothing!

This is a very good point and one I've been trying to work on now that I have a kid to set an example for. Dealing with bullies and rude people in a constructive way is a challenge (for me at least). OP, I'd be curious to know the name of the book you were thinking of. I thought this entire thread was really interesting -- so much so that I'd be interesting in reading the book (if it's written on a level that someone like me could understand it).

 

[GaryDis]

Autocorrect????

Siri