This isn’t about Tipping hats, or holding doors. Over in MSPIMS we have a thread going about Fistfighting and whether it’s a net benefit to society to allow it. We need some data points from you guys.
So How often do you encounter: Rude or disrespectful behaviour that you would consider extreme?
Well, since I consider rude behaviour people doing things that benefit themselves to the detriment of other people, I voted “frequently.” Examples of common rude behaviours I see are littering, driving aggressively, and parking badly.
You only have to encounter one person carrying on (via bluetooth headset) a conversation with someone who isn’t there to see that people have become not only ruder but also more tolerant of rudeness than at any time in history.
We used to burn people who did that shit at the stake, Seven of Nine. Go find someplace private to talk about your frakking test results.
I don’t think people are so much ruder today, but I think it’s more generational.
I very rarely notice people under the age of 40 or so being rude. But those over 40 (especially men in their 50s and 60s) definitely have their ass hole switch more than younger people.
Huh. I’ve noticed the exact opposite.
I feel that over the past forty years of my life people seem ruder, angrier and more openly aggressive.
I live in the same neighborhood I grew up in so it’s not like the environment itself has changed.
I didn’t vote because I think the poll is fundamentally flawed - people are rude as hell to me all day long (I’m a public librarian, so I see more of it than most people) but I’m not convinced it’s any different than it ever has been.
ha! That’s what Nashiitashii said as well! Also a public Librarian.
Among men at least, I think the threat of an imminent ass-kicking or death if you were an asshole to someone tended to make people more polite back in the day.
For example, I suspect that back in the 1960’s or before, if some guy said something disparaging about your wife, and you went out in the parking lot and beat him down, that the cops may or may not be called, and when they showed up, they likely wouldn’t have charged the husband.
Nowadays they’d haul your ass in and charge you, which effectively endorses the assholes of the world.
Society has become somewhat pussified in the past 40-50 years; there ARE insults that you shouldn’t stomach, and sticking up for yourself in those situations shouldn’t be punished; if you don’t want the consequences that go with someone beating the shit out of you, don’t mouth off to him or about his wife/girlfriend. It is that simple.
I think it’s generational, too, in that younger people don’t see the same things as rude. I think a lot of younger people think nothing of yakking away on their cellphones at top volume anywhere, because they and everyone they know do it. I do think it’s rude, because I don’t do that.
I just find this (and that whole fistfighting thread) inexplicable. I mean, have you ever experienced anything like that? I’ve never in my life been even remotely insulted like this, or witnessed anything like this, or had a friend tell me about anything even in this category. I’m not especially sheltered, either. The idea that things like this run rampant these days is baffling.
I voted for “Fool you’ve forgotten” since I agree with Zsofia People are frequently rude but they always have been. How they are rude changes but the underlying level of assholishness stays the same.
Well, I haven’t been called Hottentot or Kaffir recently, nor have I been chased off particular beaches or the like. I vote for “less rude”
You say we’ve become less like cavemen as though it were a *bad *thing.
Those of us who were alive during the 50s remember a time when the average person was very well-mannered, compared with today. But of course I’m not considering racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.
One of the more obvious examples I see are employees in store. Back then, the customer was “always right,” not that I always agree with that, but a salesperson or cashier would always speak respectfully to a customer, no matter what. And it would be unheard of to talk about your salary or hours in front of a customer, like I encounter these days.
I think the amount of rudeness the average person gets is about the same. The amount of rudeness people give is what’s changed. There was a time when it was perfectly okay to dis someone because of the color of their skin, their perceived ethnicity, or their perceived social status. Nowadays, people tend to be either rude to everyone or polite to everyone; no more tempering attitude according to who they’re dealing with.
Since GW was ousted, it’s been a lot better. While he was in office, people felt it was necessary to be jerks.
Though Acid Lamp mentioned it already, I have a similar experience-- I encounter a lot of kids who are still learning what’s rude and what’s not, and I also encounter a lot of people that do not consider a public servant worthy of polite behavior. It’s really funny at times, because I perceive that I am treated quite differently when I am on the job than when I am out and about, even if I am serving people in both circumstances. As for the kids, I do my part to remind them that there are certain rules one must follow when in the library, and that includes how they treat others, myself included.
Overall, I would not necessarily say that people have gotten ruder, but that the incidence of clueless people has gotten a little higher.
I think there’s more rudeness now because there used to be more enforced training of people as to what was expected in polite society. “Don’t make other people uncomfortable” is pretty much the underlying basis of all traditional etiquette. But these days, the attitude is, “I should make myself happy, and screw what other people think about it.”
People are people, always have been, always will be.