I get the feeling that people are less polite than they used to be. I also feel that people are becoming more and more desenitized to those around us.
Anyone agree or disagree?
I think I’m pretty fucking polite.
Maybe people are just more sincere now than they used to be.
This is probably a poll rather than a debate, but certainly people are using obscenity and profanity in public more freely than they used to.
On the other hand, it has become less acceptable to use sexist or racist epithets in polite society, so on that score perhaps we’re becoming more polite.
I know I personally am less polite than I used to be before I joined the Dope. 
Well you’re wrong…STUPID!!!
Having lived in Southern California for the past 40 years, I can only speak for my experiences in that locale.
I have so many experiences to support the OP:
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When I hobbled onto a standing room only motor coach, having got out of a wheel chair, no one offered their seat.
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When standing with a cane and trying to retrieve my baggage off the carousel, husky young guys just stood and watched.
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I allow cars to pull in front of me when they are trying to get out of a gas station. No one does it for me or my wife or family
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people seem to be wrapped up in their own little worlds and don’t seem to consider the other person
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Waiting in line at the bank or post office and one person who has reached the teller is talking about her daughter in law is from Kansas or what have you with total disreguard for the people who are waiting in line.
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it goes on and on
Now, there ARE POLITE well mannered people who I wave or honk or thank them every time when they are considerate of others but there arn’t as many as in the old days when our parents taught us manners and to think of others.
Well, then. The obvious solution is to go back to beating it into them. Nothing encourages caring and consideration for one’s fellow man better than a timely whack upside the head.
Our memories tend to gloss over the unpleasant things in the past, and what we remember is the good stuff, so it seems like things are getting worse. There have always been rude people. Always. I must be very fortunate, because I rarely encounter the kind of dolts being described here. Of course, I’m always trying as hard as I can to be polite, just as I’m sure you are.
Also a few items described as “rudeness” can simply be different cultures or customs. Southerners sometimes perceive northerners as pushy and impatient and therefore rude. Northerners may perceive southerners as slow and inefficient and therefore rude.
In some places, the impatient person, or the one who failed to make a pleasant interpersonal interaction would be considered the rude one. In France, for example, it’s considered common courtesy to exchange greetings with the staff in a shop when you enter, whereas in the U.S. it’s not usually the case. So Americans following their usual custom come off as brusque and rude, when they intended no offense.
Of course, we don’t know if the last time these husky young guys tried to help someone they got snapped at and/or accused of trying to steal something. Of course, if would have been nice if they’d offered.
But there are women, for example, who will actually complain if someone lets them go first, or holds a door for them. And some people with less than 100% mobility also become offended and interpret offers of help as some sort of insult. I’ve seen it happen.
Finally, there are more of us than ever before, and we’re mostly crowded closer together. So even if only 1% of all persons were rude, since you encounter so many more people in a day than you might have a century ago, you are probably more likely to encounter a rude one on any given day.
In their defense, a lot of young people today have been taught that it’s impolite or improper to jump to assist a person who appears to have disabilities-- sort of like it’s implying, “Oh, you poor thing! Let me help you because you’re incapable of caring for yourself.” It’s the flip side of the coin of teaching young people to treat those with disabilites no differently than anyone else.
Also, some older people resent being treated as if they’re frail. Nor do people offer seats to women simply for being female-- some women resent the implication that the fairer sex is too weak to stand.
We’ve been taught to treat everyone the same and don’t want to risk embarassing someone by calling attention to their differences.
Secondly, I think it always sticks out in one’s mind when one sees rude behavior, but we tend to forget the “norm”, or behavior which is polite and doesn’t call our attention. I think also that we’ve been programmed to think that people are ruder than they once were, thus we’re actually on the lookout for rude behaviors.
I think that Kimstu had an excellent point: while a man is no longer socially obligated to pull out a woman’s chair, or rise and offer her his seat, he is obligated not to tell racially offensive jokes or pat his secretary on the behind. Societal norms are constantly shifting, and those who defy those rules are termed deviant. We’re not seeing an upsurge in deviance-- we’re just seeing natural cultural shifts.
Yeah, I’d say that over the years people are becoming increasingly rude.
Witness the thread, Who would be brave enough to wear this T-shirt?.
Should read, who would be rude enough. Is it really worth offending someone just so you can giggle with your dewds. Trouble is some people don’t make the distinction between what they want to do and what they should do. I get funny looks sometimes when I hold a door open for someone(male or female).
Yes, and I read in a book that empathy is used as proof that humans are smart. So with a little cynicism the increase in rudeness is a point for attacking human intelligence. Yeh, ranting and letting out my frustration. But even if we’re living in a more toxic world and are being dumbed down by television, there’s still reason to be happy because violence is always the answer. Beware of Doug’s wisdom is undeniable, IMO, because when faced with someone so filled with political correctnessness that he pretends someone else is invisible so as not to offend him (hahaha, more like he’s just trying to reenact a scene he saw on television) you don’t play along, you should resolve to violence. Another way to cure this common courtesy, or apathy problem is to be pretty looking and when someone tries to flirt with you by smiling you flash your rotten buck, chipped, and half missing set of teeth at him/her. And Nirvana is attained.
My impression is that things are better than they were in the 1970’s.
The 70’s were harsh, man.
[Moderator Hat ON]
I think this will do better in IMHO.
[Moderator Hat OFF]
That’s an interesting point - I’m a polite person, and am usually polite to everyone I meet, and I find that most people are polite back. Maybe it’s that human thing where we mimic those around us. If I set a polite standard, people reflect it back to me.
Other than face-to-face interaction, though, people do seem to be getting more desensitized to people outside of their monkeysphere, as seen in things like parking in handicapped or no parking zones and road rage, where the consequences of bad behaviour are more nebulous.
My Grandmother thought so.
She lived 1899-1991 and said many times that in her lifetime that people had changed how they dealt with one another. Examples off hand I recall: Hitchhikers, giving food to “a hobo” who knocked on your door, tipping your hat, standing when a lady entered the room, the expectations of what it meant to be a neighbor – all these things had shifted radically enough for her to notice it and try to communicate the differences to us. She often remarked how things had shifted. Some of this might be better described as “manners and customs” rather than “politeness” & that difference will often be why the perception seems a slam dunk: manners are different and “older/past” manners almost always seem better than current “manners”-- but enough of what my G-Mom tried to say seems to me to be related to how American society viewed and interacted with each other to answer “yes” to the OP
How is that any different?
I’m sure your neighbors appreciate you honking at people for no reason.
Ah the good old days of vagrant ettiquate. Good times.