Common Courtesy

Let us raise a toast to the death of common courtesy, which will likely be the downfall of society.

Some may consider this a rant, I consider it an observation.  I have been debating this completely off topic post for a few days now, and a FB post from a friend prompted me to write this immediately.  It could very easily be considered a rant, because there will be a level of profanity (I promise), a little bit of outrage, and some snarkiness directed to members of society.  

Over the past few years, society has started to get to the point that the rights of one group of people (or person), outweighs the rights of another group of people (or person).  The big question is – when do your rights to do something trump someone else’s rights to do something, or conversely – when does your right to do something stop if it impacts someone else’s ability to do something.  None of this would be a debate about legality or common sense.  Today’s trigger that I read on FB was about one person’s right to stand up with his iPad to video a Christmas concert and block the view of those trying to sit behind him.  This short (and a little weak) but heartfelt rant, puts another nail in the coffin of society, but it has a nice use of the word jabroni in a sentence.  In today’s world, nobody wants to be the one to knock him in the back of his knee with a chair and tell him he is being a douche, because his feelings might get hurt and then it would be your fault.  So, nobody would correct the douchebag for being an ass, for fear of retribution…. Even though the majority of the crowd would love to see the guy fall over.  But ultimately, he stood up to block everyone else because he didn’t give a shit what the other people thought, and knew everyone would be too afraid to do anything about it.

Rewind a couple of days, my wife and I went to Candy Cane Lane in Edmonton, walking down a sidewalk beside each other.  As other couples would approach, we would go to single file to let people pass.  Many of the other fuck-tards, would barely turn as we passed.  A couple of times, if Mrs was in the lead, and I saw people not giving any regard – I gave then none and kept going straight.  They leaned away as they went by as I was the more immovable object, but of course – they see me as the asshole.  A couple of times with groups coming down the sidewalk, 3 abreast, we just stopped and made them go around us.  But, again – they would see us as the assholes.

What does all this really mean?

As I am going through this treatment session, I spend a substantial amount of time online – reading and listening.  After I read one article that was linked on twitter by a friend (if he read this he will know) about a person that was denied access to an airport lounge because of the way he was dressed (Quantas).  The person that tweeted the link(Glen), was big on how people should dress for success, and how to represent themselves properly in public.  I was the offender wearing the flaming skull T-shirts in the lounge, and now wonder what people thought of me.  The reality was, I didn’t care at the time – it wasn’t important to me.  But, Glen has a point – it is all about how you represent yourself as a brand, and how others view you.  Looking now at having to grow up and get a real job, that personal brand will be a substantial part of how I enter that world.  These articles makes me wonder have the WalMartians gotten out of their insitution and now want to be accepted everywhere?

I have also listened to some podcasts from The Art of Manliness (AoM Podcast) which puts a tongue in cheek perspective on the idea that society doesn’t need to be this way, and how things can be more upscale, proper and bring back some of the key values that can help motivate society to actual function as a society, not just to see who can be the bigger douchebag.  When did men switch from sitting around a study/den having a drink and chatting  – to just a man cave media room where it is all about the big screen and surround sound?

Another funny link to this, is that today I also read a blog about how some old school mentorship in the Military has died off due to the death of scotch and cigars as something to bring people together (Doctrine Man).   The reality is, the old school perspective, makes perfect sense, and I kinda think that a few old fashioned doses of reality would substantially change society for the better.  I have been around the system long enough to have seen the changes, and how things used to be – and remember those barside chats.

I listened to one podcast the other day that talk about how people are allowed to treat others like shit, and everyone just seems to expect things to be ok.  It has a nicely profanity laced motivation that explains how people need to get on with their lives. (MFCEO – Risk) The podcast points out that people need to own their actions more, and smarten up.  Of course it points out – “YOLO is the Carpe Diem for idiots”(my new favorite quote, I might add it to my signature block).  It also makes the point that can be related to the kids of the guy with iPad.  They will get crushed by reality when they get older, grow up and realize there are bigger douchebags out there than their dad, but don’t know how to deal with it.  If their parents don’t teach them how to deal with others now, their kids will be worse off than them.  Too bad he can’t teach his kids anything other than how to be disrespectful.

To bring this back to the beginning – what is the correct answer when one person (or groups) actions, impede on the actions of others?  What is the solution for this? and to that I turn to another podcast (Tim Ferriss) to highlight our consequence free environment.

Where will it go from here?  I don’t know.  I think that society is in a little bit of a downward spiral, when you have to worry if someone gets offended by the word christmas lights, but that is a rant for another day – maybe if those people didn’t get a day off with pay, they would call it christmas…..

I know what bugs me and what I might try to do about it, but the reality comes down to a very dark principle.  The question is – when will the circle go all the way back to older times.  I will end this with a quote that I think society has forgotten taken from this blog Jack Donovan