Experts Decry Decline of Good Etiquette

Love the reference to "flip-flops" at the white house! Thought they meant poltical flip-flopping!! HAHA!!!

WASHINGTON (AP) -

Americans' fast-paced, high-tech existence has taken a toll on civility. From road rage in the morning commute to high decibel cell-phone conversations that ruin dinner out, men and women behaving badly have become the hallmark of a hurry-up world.

An increasing informality - flip-flops at the White House, even - combined with self-absorbed communication gadgets and a demand for instant gratification have strained common courtesies to the breaking point.

"All of these things lead to a world with more stress, more chances for people to be rude to each other," said Peter Post, a descendent of etiquette expert Emily Post and an instructor on business manners through the Emily Post Institute in Burlington, Vt.

more...

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2005/oct/14/101404230.html

there is a pretty good chance they voted for Bush and should go fuck themselves anyway.

syndicated program to Jeremy Glick.

Can't imagine O'Reilly being anything but an exemplar role model for civility.

in their children and treating them as if they're the center of the universe. This has been going on for about thirty years now, and the result is a critical mass of adults who think that they don't have to have consideration for anyone else.

I also blame the climate of "Me-publicanism" created during the Reagan administration. I noticed a marked rise in pointless hostility, crudity, and snarkiness in the early to mid 1980s.

Etiquette is more than a fussy set of rules for the socially snobbish: it's a way of putting everyone on the same page so that society operates smoothly and that people's feelings are considered. All the etiquette experts agree that putting down "the lower classes" or acting imperious toward people in service jobs shows the snob's lack of class.

pet peeves!!! :mad:

it started under the rethuglicans and their attitude of 'me first' and 'what's in it for me' and screwing anyone who gets between them and what they want. :-(

They don't practice it themselves. People stun me daily by their crassness. Cell phone usage is probably the worst-people hold conversations while using the toilet in public restrooms, discuss intimate details of their personal lives and ignore the cashiers while paying for their groceries, and irritate the hell out of me in restaurants. Half the time the conversation is "Hi! Whatcha doin'? Me too!".

People have no self-respect. Its embarrassing to watch.

The older you get, the more often you hear this nonsense. I'm 62, and I've been hearing it for decades. It's a repeating cycle.

I'm now old enough so that when people refer to the good old days, they're referring to a time when I can remember people referring to the good old days.

I am only 27, but it seems to me "the good old days" are an old wive's tale...

you simply don't recognize the "good old days" when you are living them

but if it means adhering to arcane rules for no reason other than that they are arcane rules then forget it.

is part of treating people with dignity. Of course I know you are refering to big issues like the dignity of being paid a living wage and having decent living conditions. Still when you are face to face with people and thank them for holding a door for you or not being loud and obnoxious with a cell phone it gives the other person some dignity. You show you value them for the little things and that can filter upward to caring about bigger issues.

and a Vice President who tells an opposite party Senator to "F" himself on have nothing to do with any of this, I'm sure...

/sarcasm