http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9692880/
A really poor article about a really important and interesting topic. I guess the Posts wanted an opportunity to plug their institute. It is shame that the article though muddied the issue by mixing three completely different issues together, formality, chivalry and politeness, trying to paint them all as politeness" -- the opposite of rudness.
There is no question that rudeness is a major issue. Whether it is on the rise or not is hard to say, especially since so many people confuse other issues with rudeness, and so many people tend to have a jaded view of the past. I think the biggest problem is that our society is structured now so that those who are polite get the short end of the stick rather than being the beneficiaries, as they had been in the past, of admiration. While gratification shouldn't be a necessary component of politeness, surely punishment shouldn't either.
I do think it is a shame that MSNBC wasted space mixing up the decline of formality (a useless ideal, which served more to exclude than to build a better community) and the decline of chivalry (a damaging ideal, which served to marginalize those who society wished to marginalize) with the real issues of politeness and rudeness. And it really points out another source of the problem: The media itself, which casts things in whatever manner sells the most newspapers, garners the most ratings, etc., thereby fostering rudness solely because it sells.
A really poor article about a really important and interesting topic. I guess the Posts wanted an opportunity to plug their institute. It is shame that the article though muddied the issue by mixing three completely different issues together, formality, chivalry and politeness, trying to paint them all as politeness" -- the opposite of rudness.
There is no question that rudeness is a major issue. Whether it is on the rise or not is hard to say, especially since so many people confuse other issues with rudeness, and so many people tend to have a jaded view of the past. I think the biggest problem is that our society is structured now so that those who are polite get the short end of the stick rather than being the beneficiaries, as they had been in the past, of admiration. While gratification shouldn't be a necessary component of politeness, surely punishment shouldn't either.
I do think it is a shame that MSNBC wasted space mixing up the decline of formality (a useless ideal, which served more to exclude than to build a better community) and the decline of chivalry (a damaging ideal, which served to marginalize those who society wished to marginalize) with the real issues of politeness and rudeness. And it really points out another source of the problem: The media itself, which casts things in whatever manner sells the most newspapers, garners the most ratings, etc., thereby fostering rudness solely because it sells.
