By Bitty Reilly/south news editor
When did society deem rude, socially unacceptable behaviors worthy of acceptance? Why do some people seem so fond of others’ publicly demoting fellow man?
Should we feel ashamed of characters on political radio talk shows who make a joke out of clip cropping opposing political position callers?
Television characters who make a mockery of fragile egos, some restaurant person who torments his customers or teachers who make a living by talking down to students inexplicably seem acceptable.
I once met a woman who pulled that attitude among students, including me. Her name escapes me although I think I had a few pet names for her—those also escape me. When I entered the classroom at 10 a.m. Monday, she still had the morning bears.
I walked into her office one Tuesday after a particularly horrid Monday, and she began griping about why I had not picked up my assignment, which she graded and made available the previous day.
I told her my sole purpose in life was to get even with her and make her mad so I could hear her talk to me as if I were an inferior scumbag moron. After all, I must have made more then her by at least $40,000 a year, and I was sure she was bitter.
Her approach toward me changed, but rumors of her asinine rules and procedures still surfaced. My evidently never-before-posed question “Who taught you that speaking to other human beings in that manner was acceptable?” also made the gambit among her superiors and other mutual acquaintances. We were separated before there were any further confrontations.
The unacceptable social actions of others would be easier to understand if I thought that society has not yet learned how to act. However, most of our ancestors were more adept at etiquette. They used the kindness of calling-on, courting and complimenting.
Since our elders did not have cell phones to call people back and harass them after one mean thing was said, did they choose to be less uncaring?
The social ways, from the elite to the lower class, should be similar. Politeness is always acceptable. Pretentiousness is not becoming.
Echo did not ever get the wish for Narcissus to love her—Narcissus ended up dead.
