The edges of social acceptability
Good afternoon kind readers.
A few days of enforced bed rest have left my brain all a-spinning.
Well, today's jaunt to the doctor's then the city have crystalised my questions, but first some background.
I try very hard to treat others as I would like to be treated. I greet people, listen to them (even if I can't/have no intention to help), and give what advice or assistance I may before wandering off on my next adventure.
It has also been said (by far cleverer people than me) that hypocracy is the lubricant of social interaction.
My question I would like answered is,
is there a line people can cross which renders them ineligible for social courtesy?
it's actually a multi-parter questions;
- Can this line be crossed inadvertantly, or without deliberate choice, and does this make any difference?
- Once crossed, what privilages are removed from the offender? Are there multiple levels of ettiquette, with corresponding levels of respect?
What set me off today was fairly trivial, but characteristic of the me-centred apporach society at large really seems to be after these days (why, back in I>my day, whippersnappers, get off my lawn you damn kids etc)
So there we were, me and ten thousand other mooks, wandering around the City. One person* stops dead *in the middle of the flow* to play with a DS. As people kept going, they were bumped into from behind, and apparently something bad happened to them in the game. I say apparently as by this stage I had worked my way downcrowd, and didn't see the ensusing altercation, but apparently they felt their right to personal space had been violated, and they had every right to do whatever they wanted when they wanted. And they felt this very loudly
Now I agree wholeheartedly with this sentiment, but there's a rider they forgot to include - as long as no-one gets hurt.
For my 2c worth, even if the stopper had dropped their DS and broken it, they would have rated a sympathy factor of minus several thousand. OK, it may be a bit pedantic, but is it really so much to expect them to have some very brief awareness of the world around them? Can't they drift over to the edge of the crowd, where the movement is slower, or even stopped (imagine a long line of DS players) - OK some might cry segregation, but I would happily backhand them and say "STFU, and deal with it"
Another example, shopping. No-one likes grocery shopping. It's not fun, the stuff is heavy, and you have to transport it out of the trolley into bags and get them home. It's always getting more expensive, the staff are at best pleasant and semi-capable, although you can see a slight look of fear that they will soon be replaced by trained monkeys, except in the fresh porduce section. And then only because the cost of training the monkeys not to eat bananas is more expensive than training new peons.
It's basically Not Fun (TM). So why do some people feel they are being singled out to have a Bad Time, while everyone else rides around on rainbows and get exactly what they want? Personally, I'm more inclined to believe these people make and carry their problems around in their heads, rather than have a genuine basis which other people would recognise.
Anyway, getting back to the point, at what stage of rudeness can you ram people's ankles with the trolley without getting off your high moral ground?
Is dithering a crime? In some areas, should it be considered one?
Is going against the obvious flow of human traffic OK becuase it works better for you (and to hell with everyone else, they must just be stupid or something)?
And my current personal hate that I would like to do something about - and apologies in advance for those of my friends who this relates to - I'm sure _you_ don't do this - cyclists who think they are a car, but only when it's convient for them. This completely and utterly sh*ts me. If you ride on the roads, then you should surely become subject to the same rules and regulations as everything else on the roads. I now make a point of trying to surf the gutter in my car when i come up to lights and know there's a cyclist a few seconds behind - they are allowed to ride, i'm allowed on the road. What's that? you can't get past me? Oh how sad, you'll just have to wait there then, or you could go on the sidewalk
*details have been omitted to protect the (possibly) innocent and (definately) stupid
A few days of enforced bed rest have left my brain all a-spinning.
Well, today's jaunt to the doctor's then the city have crystalised my questions, but first some background.
I try very hard to treat others as I would like to be treated. I greet people, listen to them (even if I can't/have no intention to help), and give what advice or assistance I may before wandering off on my next adventure.
It has also been said (by far cleverer people than me) that hypocracy is the lubricant of social interaction.
My question I would like answered is,
is there a line people can cross which renders them ineligible for social courtesy?
it's actually a multi-parter questions;
- Can this line be crossed inadvertantly, or without deliberate choice, and does this make any difference?
- Once crossed, what privilages are removed from the offender? Are there multiple levels of ettiquette, with corresponding levels of respect?
What set me off today was fairly trivial, but characteristic of the me-centred apporach society at large really seems to be after these days (why, back in I>my day, whippersnappers, get off my lawn you damn kids etc)
So there we were, me and ten thousand other mooks, wandering around the City. One person* stops dead *in the middle of the flow* to play with a DS. As people kept going, they were bumped into from behind, and apparently something bad happened to them in the game. I say apparently as by this stage I had worked my way downcrowd, and didn't see the ensusing altercation, but apparently they felt their right to personal space had been violated, and they had every right to do whatever they wanted when they wanted. And they felt this very loudly
Now I agree wholeheartedly with this sentiment, but there's a rider they forgot to include - as long as no-one gets hurt.
For my 2c worth, even if the stopper had dropped their DS and broken it, they would have rated a sympathy factor of minus several thousand. OK, it may be a bit pedantic, but is it really so much to expect them to have some very brief awareness of the world around them? Can't they drift over to the edge of the crowd, where the movement is slower, or even stopped (imagine a long line of DS players) - OK some might cry segregation, but I would happily backhand them and say "STFU, and deal with it"
Another example, shopping. No-one likes grocery shopping. It's not fun, the stuff is heavy, and you have to transport it out of the trolley into bags and get them home. It's always getting more expensive, the staff are at best pleasant and semi-capable, although you can see a slight look of fear that they will soon be replaced by trained monkeys, except in the fresh porduce section. And then only because the cost of training the monkeys not to eat bananas is more expensive than training new peons.
It's basically Not Fun (TM). So why do some people feel they are being singled out to have a Bad Time, while everyone else rides around on rainbows and get exactly what they want? Personally, I'm more inclined to believe these people make and carry their problems around in their heads, rather than have a genuine basis which other people would recognise.
Anyway, getting back to the point, at what stage of rudeness can you ram people's ankles with the trolley without getting off your high moral ground?
Is dithering a crime? In some areas, should it be considered one?
Is going against the obvious flow of human traffic OK becuase it works better for you (and to hell with everyone else, they must just be stupid or something)?
And my current personal hate that I would like to do something about - and apologies in advance for those of my friends who this relates to - I'm sure _you_ don't do this - cyclists who think they are a car, but only when it's convient for them. This completely and utterly sh*ts me. If you ride on the roads, then you should surely become subject to the same rules and regulations as everything else on the roads. I now make a point of trying to surf the gutter in my car when i come up to lights and know there's a cyclist a few seconds behind - they are allowed to ride, i'm allowed on the road. What's that? you can't get past me? Oh how sad, you'll just have to wait there then, or you could go on the sidewalk
*details have been omitted to protect the (possibly) innocent and (definately) stupid