We are turning into savages.
A couple of days ago, an acquaintance was killed in her scraproom by someone in her employ. A while back, another friend was physically brutalized by some random stranger. Just last year, the community lost a life that could have served as a beacon of hope to some random act of violence brought on by the desire for her laptop.
What is up with the world today? Everything is harder, noisier, more brutal. People are greedy and careless with others, and everything revolves around the satisfaction of one's personal wants and goals.
If you notice, even our daily interactions, we're ruthless. Etiquette easily goes out the window when one is looking to advance one's career, when driving, when finding a mate. What is up with that? What happened to the times when we were polite, or at the very least, civil?
Smut is the order of the day, and media has proven time and again that they are willing to slander anyone with half a name, and stoop to any level to get a scoop. Advertising and PR will twist every truth to get you believing a story that is not exactly the truth but not exactly a lie, either. I should know - every writer worth their salt can lie through their teeth. It's how we make a living.
Even people who want something from you are complete asses. They type up e-mails - [i]e-mails[/i], for crying out loud - of request without a follow up formal letter. Then they send said email with a subject line IN ALL CAPS. The letter, when you get it, is not worded as a request or an invitation, but as a demand. Yes, there's a "please and thank you", but it sounds perfunctory, insincere.
Noreen has pointed out time and again that I am easily offended by these things, especially the lack of lingual etiquette, because I am sensitive to the semantics of things, and that most people aren't. Most people aren't taught to write in such a way as to imply that the fulfillment of requests are considered favors and not the due of the person making the request. Most people will not notice that they're being rude.
Excuse me, but I think that if most people don't know that, then their breeding is showing. Even my brother, ass that he is, knows how to properly word a business letter.
Then again, maybe it's just a side effect of the world we live in today. No one has the time for niceties. No one can afford to be polite, or enjoy the "simple things in life" anymore. In a world where you can come home and end up murdered on the kitchen floor, maybe I'm the one out of place for thinking that we should all be a little nicer, gentler, and more forgiving of one another.
Maybe.
What is up with the world today? Everything is harder, noisier, more brutal. People are greedy and careless with others, and everything revolves around the satisfaction of one's personal wants and goals.
If you notice, even our daily interactions, we're ruthless. Etiquette easily goes out the window when one is looking to advance one's career, when driving, when finding a mate. What is up with that? What happened to the times when we were polite, or at the very least, civil?
Smut is the order of the day, and media has proven time and again that they are willing to slander anyone with half a name, and stoop to any level to get a scoop. Advertising and PR will twist every truth to get you believing a story that is not exactly the truth but not exactly a lie, either. I should know - every writer worth their salt can lie through their teeth. It's how we make a living.
Even people who want something from you are complete asses. They type up e-mails - [i]e-mails[/i], for crying out loud - of request without a follow up formal letter. Then they send said email with a subject line IN ALL CAPS. The letter, when you get it, is not worded as a request or an invitation, but as a demand. Yes, there's a "please and thank you", but it sounds perfunctory, insincere.
Noreen has pointed out time and again that I am easily offended by these things, especially the lack of lingual etiquette, because I am sensitive to the semantics of things, and that most people aren't. Most people aren't taught to write in such a way as to imply that the fulfillment of requests are considered favors and not the due of the person making the request. Most people will not notice that they're being rude.
Excuse me, but I think that if most people don't know that, then their breeding is showing. Even my brother, ass that he is, knows how to properly word a business letter.
Then again, maybe it's just a side effect of the world we live in today. No one has the time for niceties. No one can afford to be polite, or enjoy the "simple things in life" anymore. In a world where you can come home and end up murdered on the kitchen floor, maybe I'm the one out of place for thinking that we should all be a little nicer, gentler, and more forgiving of one another.
Maybe.