Booreaucracy

It’s a common complaint of old folks that “young people have no manners.” Possibly because young people see elders as mostly irrelevant, I suppose. 

Why don’t people make an extra effort to be nice? Ah, wait right there, why does being nice take extra effort? Shouldn’t that be the normal effortless response? And that is how society has changed into rule by the rude. 

It’s probably a side effect of universal victimhood. Everyone now believes that they are afflicted by unfair forces. Winners are the meanest, most ruthless, asocial slugs. Gifted and wealthy individuals use unfair advantage. The deck is stacked.

So the response of almost anyone is to put up a barrier, assume everyone else is against them. “The hell with you!” they shout, feeling there is little other recourse. And, of course, with the often envious belief that just about everyone else is better off at my expense.

Perhaps I’m naive or betrayed by nostalgia, but I don’t remember it being so bad before the internet. Sure there was a lot of rudeness and social demonstrations, but mostly people were pretty calm with one another. Or maybe, as noted, it is simply that old age changes my perspective.

I am amazed that when I am habitually polite, the response is often a kind of shocked astonishment. Perhaps I’m one of the few remaining without a grudge. I suppose it will get me in trouble someday.