Most annoying cultural trends

I'm working on a project and I need help with some ideas.

Please post your most annoying, disconcerting, or weird post 9/11 cultural trends or developments. It could just mundane day-to-day annoying or "grand world scheme" things. Things that are now approached or done in a different way, usually not for the better, but we're stuck with it.

The more recent the better.

Thanks.

Rusty.

its a fucking hole in the ground for crying out loud!

i dont know why but i find it annoying.

after seeing it all from so far away it is a way to be close to it. I grew up in the area and when I went back in 2002 I had to see it to make sure it had really happened.

But I also understand how they feel. People are drawn to places where historic events occurred. That's why we preserve battlefields and places of historical significance. People go there to try to get a sense of what went on, to try to feel a little bit of what the participants felt.

I can understand that because I stop at as many historical sites as I can. The WTC is too close though - too close in time and too close to me, personally (not that I lost anyone there nor am I a New Yorker but I've visited the city enough to feel a gut connection to it).

edited for embarrassing omission in a "too."

while driving, shopping, talking with other people, etc.

My husband says he's heard one his co-workers talking on his phone while sitting on the toilet in the next stall.

when a woman in the bathroom stall next to me at Chick-Fil-A was having a business conversation while she was taking care of (gross) business! I made it a point to flush my toilet twice so the other person could know what she was doing.

I also hate it when someone is talking on the phone in line at the grocery store and holds everyone else up while they talk because they can't talk and transact business at the same time. HANG THE FUCK UP BEFORE YOU GET IN LINE, ASSHOLE!!!

There...I got that off my chest!

..stuck to bumper stickers and/or the backs of cars. Yellow ribbons, pink ribbons, white ribbons, blue ribbons... ENOUGH ALREADY!!! I could shoot Tony Orlando for putting that idea in people's heads so long ago... :)

On his Behind the Music, there were no sound snippets for "Tie a Yellow Ribbon", nor can he sing it live because of publisher/attorney haggling.

I'm kinda glad Tony Orlando can't sing it right now, 'cause it would be incredibly overplayed.

and the concept that displaying them makes one more patriotic.

:puke:

ribbon to my SUV. Is there anything more illustrative of the ascendency of symbols over substance than those stupid as those silly ribbons?

Right-wingers, Bush supporters, and the pro-war crowd now seem to think that the American flag belongs solely to THEM, which pisses me off to no end.

No offense to the Christians here, but I dont want to hear about how I'm going to hell when I'm stuck in 5 MPH traffic on I-5. That IS hell!!

Just plain annoying.

I keep hearing people use this more often in everyday conversation, instead of just saying "the U.S" or "our country". Maybe it's just me, but it sounds too melodramatic unless you're making a speech. :shrug: It annoys me, at any rate.

Sounds kinda Nazi-like to me.

Okay, so maybe it's not new (Marion Morrison, AKA John Wayne, anybody?), but there's been a surfeit of politicians, pundits, and other figures who strut around playing tough guys but can't even face an argument with an opponent, let alone military service, deprivation, genuine crises, etc. Exhibit A is "Five Deferment" Dick Cheney, with his guns and feeble knowledge of history (Check out his claims about El Salvador during the debate with John Edwards).

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1201-30.htm

Yes, I know we call them Chickenhawks here at DU, and they certainly aren't new. But do mention them.

Then there's the woman of easy virtue with a heart of pure acquisitiveness, a figure splashed all over the media. See Paris Hilton and Jessica Cutler (AKA Washingtonienne). The wages of sin look to be pretty good these days!

And then there's the business of never altering one's behavior for any public event or transaction or interaction, as when people have cell phones going off at church and at the movies and at the theater, etc. I do think, despite all the communication supposedly facilitated by those phones, that people are MORE cut off from those around them, not more connected.

Cell phones
Viagra/Levitra/Cialis/Enzyte

The revolt against "political correctness" as if somehow making an effort to treat people with civility and respect is "appeasing the terrorists."

Toby Keith. Makes me sick.

In a non 9/11-related topic, there's the rising popularity of Gwen Stefani and ringtones of her songs.

Ain't my idol

how about a Brit idol?

Either you're a porn star, or you're not.

Stop teasing me.

"It's good to be mean."

The meaner you are, the tougher you are. The tougher you are, the less of a loser you are. The less of a loser you are, the more like a winner you are.

Our culture has embraced a weird mutation of Darwinism: Survival of the meanest. It's non-partisan, btw, because I can find examples of this all over these forums.

Everybody has to have the LATEST and GREATEST technology (whether they even need it or not) and then there's people like me who have absolutely no time or money to even keep up with it all.

I swear, they're making a comeback. All my fellow "slacker" Gen X-ers have traded flannel and Doc Martens for VW Jettas and cellphones. :eyes:

What the fuck does that actually mean?

dissension, speaking out, and standing up for what's right even if it means vocal disagreement with the government - is somehow now treasonous and un-American.

I'm getting sick of the "me, me, me" asshats. And forget anything meaningful passing between strangers - it's all about the hate. :(

And don't forget that there's a pill for every problem now too.

so low they can't walk because their crotch is below their knees.

the sexualization of young female children.

to the point of craziness.

a coke can through their ear lobe. (I guess that was happening pre-9/11, but still annoys me).

Won't do it. I'm sorry, I did not hear anything you said because I was doing something else. What?

Do we really need enough fries to foll a heafty bag? Do we really need Burgers the size of our heads?

and uncool to be intelligent and kind is not only annoying but has actually damaged our country.

It is the thing I hate most about Middle America.

telling people how to vote