Guess what - this isn't about Iraq (more on that another time). Today's topic is what's going on right here in America.
I drive about an hour to get to work each day, and the same to get home again, and in that time on the road I tend to think a great deal about my fellow Americans. Generally, I'm thinking what lousy drivers they are, but also, I wonder why everyone seems so rude these days.
Have you noticed that? Look at the guy who refuses to yield to the car coming up the onramp, even though traffic is at a standstill, and it wouldn't cost him anything. Or the driver who passes you in the no passing zone so he can get to the traffic light one car length ahead of you. What's up with these people?
It goes beyond the roads as well. Ever use a public restroom? I sincerely doubt that any of the people who trashed some of the ones I've been in do the same thing in their own home - so why do they feel its acceptable to do it in a public bathroom?
I could go on here, but I think you get the idea. What I still ponder is, why? If you look back in history, say a hundred years ago, society was much more polite. Even as late as the 30's and 40's, there were accepted norms of behavior for people in public. But somewhere in the last 60 years or so, all of that went out of fashion it seems. Now its all about "me," and people don't seem to care about how their actions affect others, or the consequences to themselves when these things come back to them (how many times have I seen a driver shouting in anger at someone who just cut him off, 30 seconds after he did the exact same thing to someone else?).
I get very concerned for our society, and America in general, when I think about this. A nation of self-centered people is not a strong one, certainly. I fear that we are the victims of our own success - our nation has historically been very secure, prosperous and forgiving, and so people have become spoiled. There is little incentive for them to think of others, only of themselves.
My greatest fear is that the only thing that might reverse this trend is a true disaster, something worse than Sept. 11th. And I wonder if we can survive anything of that magnitude as a nation and a people.
Comments (5)
My question would be, are we still a nation and a people? Sure, we all live within the boundaries of a geographic region known as the United States, but it has become clear to me that we no longer are a nation in the sense we have any great agreements regarding who we are or where we are going. I have no interest in war, but I wonder if we wouldn't be better off breaking up into smaller republics that might be more responsive to the needs and desires of their people.
Posted by G'Kar | March 11, 2007 6:08 PM
Posted on March 11, 2007 18:08
G'Kar, that didn’t work out all that well the last time it was tried.
Posted by OCSteve | March 11, 2007 8:46 PM
Posted on March 11, 2007 20:46
True, but the last time it was tried the breakup was not amicable and foundered on the rather significant issue of slavery. If this were to work, it would be via general agreement of the states. I do not anticipate it actually occurring, I simply speculated that we might be better off if it somehow did. I believe 'and a pony' might well be appended to the remark.
Posted by G'Kar | March 11, 2007 8:52 PM
Posted on March 11, 2007 20:52
I'm not sure that previous eras were all that polite. Part of the impression that they were, I think, comes from a focus on their richer members. But when you consider how recent an idea it is that spitting is embarrassing, let alone something you should not do in public, etc., I'm not sure previous generations stack up all that well. (I mean: previous generations thought nothing of tossing the contents of chamberpots out the window into the street.)
And I'm leaving aside here all the things it was considered OK to do to people of various specific types, like expecting blacks to get off the sidewalk to make way for whites, or addressing elderly men as 'boy, let alone lynching people for having looked at someone wrong, etc. That these are breaches of grace and politeness is the least of the problems with them, but for all that, they are. And even if we leave race aside, earlier class distinctions allowed for a lot of sanctioned rudeness to lower classes by their social superiors.
Just on that count alone, it's hard to see how any amount of obnoxious driving could keep us from coming out ahead.
I of course agree about present rudeness, though. I always wonder why people don't give up all that anger on prudential grounds alone -- normally, when I get slighted in some way, the last thing I want to do is hand over a significant chunk of time and emotional energy to the perpetrator, when I could be thinking of something interesting.
Posted by hilzoy | March 11, 2007 9:16 PM
Posted on March 11, 2007 21:16
Never mind. I see you expanded the point over at ObWi. (Jeeze, GF is in rare form tonight).
As a microcosm of the concept, I live on the DelMarVA peninsula. The people here are not so much residents of Delaware, or Maryland, or Virginia. There have been movements to get us declared a separate state. I live a couple miles from Delaware, and a short drive from Virginia. We take advantage of state laws however it benefits us. Tax free shopping in Delaware, fireworks and cheap cigs in Virginia, etc.
For the most part we are DelMarVians first, and residents of a particular state second.
Posted by OCSteve | March 12, 2007 12:21 AM
Posted on March 12, 2007 00:21