DesertFox
07-22-2007, 09:06 AM
Frank Miele
Does anyone even care any longer what is appropriate behavior in public?
Not mind you, what is legal, but what is appropriate. . . .
. . . the more people are inured to intolerable behavior the more it becomes unexpectedly tolerable.
Examples abound.
Last week, it was Sen. Jim Webb nearly exploding with anger as he sputtered with disdain at his colleague, Sen. Lindsey Graham, on “Meet the Press” over the Republican’s position on the war in Iraq.
This week it was the spat between Majority Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Arlen Specter on the floor of the Senate when Specter had the temerity to call the Senate’s overnight pajama party to debate the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq “a ridiculous waste of time.” This led Reid to surmise that the voters in Specter’s home state of Pennsylvania “want a change of course” in Iraq, but when Specter tried to respond, Reid cut him off and called for a vote on an unrelated education bill.
When debate resumed later, Specter chided Reid for presuming to speak for the citizens of Pennsylvania, and for cutting off Specter’s response by using parliamentary procedures. Specter said Reid’s behavior was “rude, to say the minimum... And if the United States Senate doesn’t run on comity, on courtesy, on basic decency, the United States Senate cannot run at all.”
The same could probably be said about the United States as a whole. . . . If we do not treat each other with respect because we are expected to, we very likely will treat each other with disdain because we are able to.
It appears more and more that there is no expectation of respect in America. Thousands of people in this country make their living off of being irreverent, if not downright uncivil. You could start with Rosie O’Donnell and Ann Coulter, add in MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, throw in a golden oldie like Don Imus, mix well with numerous politicians and celebrities, and you’ve got the start of a cantankerous stew that feeds the American soul with bile and bitterness.
Doesn’t matter, say the liberals. We should all be able to say whatever we want. . . .
People have always been able to say whatever they wanted, but there were consequences. If you used vulgarity in public, you were known as a foul-mouthed boor.
More (http://www.dailyinterlake.com/articles/2007/07/22/columns/columns01.txt)
Does anyone even care any longer what is appropriate behavior in public?
Not mind you, what is legal, but what is appropriate. . . .
. . . the more people are inured to intolerable behavior the more it becomes unexpectedly tolerable.
Examples abound.
Last week, it was Sen. Jim Webb nearly exploding with anger as he sputtered with disdain at his colleague, Sen. Lindsey Graham, on “Meet the Press” over the Republican’s position on the war in Iraq.
This week it was the spat between Majority Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Arlen Specter on the floor of the Senate when Specter had the temerity to call the Senate’s overnight pajama party to debate the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq “a ridiculous waste of time.” This led Reid to surmise that the voters in Specter’s home state of Pennsylvania “want a change of course” in Iraq, but when Specter tried to respond, Reid cut him off and called for a vote on an unrelated education bill.
When debate resumed later, Specter chided Reid for presuming to speak for the citizens of Pennsylvania, and for cutting off Specter’s response by using parliamentary procedures. Specter said Reid’s behavior was “rude, to say the minimum... And if the United States Senate doesn’t run on comity, on courtesy, on basic decency, the United States Senate cannot run at all.”
The same could probably be said about the United States as a whole. . . . If we do not treat each other with respect because we are expected to, we very likely will treat each other with disdain because we are able to.
It appears more and more that there is no expectation of respect in America. Thousands of people in this country make their living off of being irreverent, if not downright uncivil. You could start with Rosie O’Donnell and Ann Coulter, add in MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, throw in a golden oldie like Don Imus, mix well with numerous politicians and celebrities, and you’ve got the start of a cantankerous stew that feeds the American soul with bile and bitterness.
Doesn’t matter, say the liberals. We should all be able to say whatever we want. . . .
People have always been able to say whatever they wanted, but there were consequences. If you used vulgarity in public, you were known as a foul-mouthed boor.
More (http://www.dailyinterlake.com/articles/2007/07/22/columns/columns01.txt)