Social Etiquette - Why the 21st Century is Losing Respect and Dignity
It is the very backbone of what truly makes a society 'civilised' and the lack thereof an 'uncivilised' society. It determines the social constructs and values of a society and as far as we are progressing, we are losing something of upmost importance, the value of social etiquette, as we do.
It was only the other day as I went to Event Cinemas that someone drew out their phone, brightly shining, undimmed and ignorant, that it occurred to me, our society is shifting so far from the moral backbone that we used to stand on. What is hilarious and rather ironic is that this 21st century society is also one that is very socially conscious and aware, one where volunteering is cheered and rewarded and one where almost every social and political issue is known and cared about. Yet, these simple things of social etiquette are disappearing too - a conundrum that I think can be whittled down to humility or the lack thereof in our modern day world.
On the train, it wouldn't be uncommon to see people unwilling to stand up and give up their seat without being asked for the elderly, pregnant or sick, yet only a few years ago this was seen as a mandatory social issue. This is the purest example of the lack of humility - entitlement. If people believe that they are entitled to the seat, metaphorically speaking, then they must also believe someone else isn't entitled to that seat. The same goes everywhere else in society. What used to be a calling cry for basic human rights, for individual tolerance and acceptance has now become an entitlement game that is becoming one where we fight to see how many entitlements we can accumulate.
Humility is important in this regard - making sure that people understand that sure they are entitled to a few things, but so is everyone else make sure that they aren't above everyone else but that everyone is equal. This ideology used to characterise both ends of the political spectrum, both left and right, but what we are seeing today is none other than and entitlement game.
For the left, only recently, Hillary Clinton was crowned as the first woman to be major parties nominee for president. Yet despite this accomplishment in progression of our society, it is not an accomplishment of Clinton herself. This should not be viewed as Clinton winning but of our society moving forward and voting someone in regardless of their gender or sex. What makes this worse however is the political cruxifixction of, mainly women, whom would not vote for Hillary Clinton. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told a rally that there was a "special place in hell" for women who didn't support Secretary Clinton and Gloria Steinem said that women who didn't back Mr.s Clinton were simply too shallow for their opinion to have been taken seriously. This is atrocious and the very reason that sexism will perpetuate - not end - with a Clinton nomination. People shouldn't vote for Hillary because she is a women but if they do it should be because of her political experience and history, her role as secretary of state for the Obama Administration or as her role as the first lady of the United States or a wealth of many other reasons not linked to her gender.
For the right, the nomination and landslide victories of Donald Trump are one to be analysed too. He won with a lack of respect for not only those whom have served in the political life but also for the people of which he wants to become the President of. Not only has insulted numerous groups throughout society but he has done so without any regret, necessity or truth. Even Judy Sheindlin, also known more commonly as 'Judge Judy' a person who is known for "telling it like it is", did not believe in a Trump Presidency. Trumps standing has been a revolt on political correctness, which I agree has gone too far, however, his revolt is anything but an anti-political correctness stance. There is a fine line between 'telling it like it is' and being plain ignorant and socially immoral. On an interview on the late night talk show, 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" on CBS, Judy said she would not take the position of Vice-President if Donald Trump asked her, saying that "that would be actually terrible". In any case, this should not be the reason that people would vote for Donald Trump. If people voted for him it should be because of his vast business knowledge, his high ranking self-made status, his amassed wealth, or even his fantastic upbringing of his children including Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump.
What we can see across both sides is a lack of humility. For Hillary it's her belief that she is entitled to the Presidency because of her political history and public service and because of her gender for Donald Trump it's his arrogance or his belief that private experience translates to public improvement - two sectors so vastly different that experience in one or the other does not mean success in the other. This is unfortunate, to say the least, for a society which wants to progress, which wants to move forward, whose citizens are slowly bending away from this idea of social etiquette. And it isn't restricted to just the political spectrum. If you do end up standing up for someone on the train, or you help someone walk across the road that needs help, if you do something that is used to be just called social etiquette, you are congratulated and cheered on for such an action. What this shows, is how far the apple has fallen from the tree - how far our society has moved that people are cheering on such actions because they are so rare normally. However, this still gives me hope that we haven't lost it all, completely. The fact that people still do care and that some people are still acting in accordance with basic social etiquette proves that the apple has yet to rot to the core - we still have some sense of social consciousness inside of us.
Maybe I'm holding on too much for these tired and trite beliefs but I truly do feel that they help us and maintain our civilised society - without it we would be no better than animals.
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