The Coarsening of America: Death of Decorum

[TLM08]

Over the last twenty years or so, it seems our society has become louder, prouder, more aggressive, crude & rude. The other day, I watched as two obese, tattooed teenage girls wearing tube tops and flip flops walked down the street spitting and cussing like a couple of marines. They seemed to be a perfect representation of our culture in the year 2009.
Cell phones in restaurants are another sore spot with me.

Is there any chance of recovering what used to be called manners & decorum? Does anyone else care to vent their “cultural pet peeves”?

 

[kesa82]

Believe it or not , I’m not really given to "sky is falling " pronouncements. I’'m 41.
When I was a kid I seriously would not have taken seriously the idea that the US would become a historical footnote in a foreseeable period of time.
Now, just 30 years later? Like I said, I’m only 41, but I often find myself wishing I would hurry up and die. because I don’t see a happy ending in this story. I simply don’t watch the news anymore. It’s FRIGHTENING. And I don’t mean Arab Terrorists.

 

[JimG]

Over the last twenty years or so, it seems our society has become louder, prouder, more aggressive, crude & rude. The other day, I watched as two obese, tattooed teenage girls wearing tube tops and flip flops walked down the street spitting and cussing like a couple of marines. They seemed to be a perfect representation of our culture in the year 2009.
Cell phones in restaurants are another sore spot with me.

Is there any chance of recovering what used to be called manners & decorum? Does anyone else care to vent their “cultural pet peeves”?

When I was in high school, several millena ago, cursing was rather uncommon. When I joined the military, it was more common with the men among themselves, but verboten around women and family. I was startled later in life to find that middle school kids had a larger vocabulary of curse words than my military buddies.

 

[Angels_Unaware]

Over the last twenty years or so, it seems our society has become louder, prouder, more aggressive, crude & rude. The other day, I watched as two obese, tattooed teenage girls wearing tube tops and flip flops walked down the street spitting and cussing like a couple of marines. They seemed to be a perfect representation of our culture in the year 2009.
Cell phones in restaurants are another sore spot with me.

Is there any chance of recovering what used to be called manners & decorum? Does anyone else care to vent their “cultural pet peeves”?

I agree, and I’ve noticed it, and it bother me. I have a copy of *The Kiss in Times Square * to remind me of everything I love and cherish about my grandparents’ generation. (She slapped him afterwards…)

This is the fruit of Narcissism. That’s really all I can say about it. When self is more important than any higher values, this is how things evolve.

Language is coarse. Integrity and service seem non-existent in business. Modesty doesn’t seem to exist for so many kids and young adults. People cheat everywhere in everything. I am shocked when I hear about people cheating in college, accepting bribes, etc. Isn’t your own sense of character more important than anything? Even young families with their focus on getting their children everything they want and putting them in 100 activities are at their core narcissistic in their values.

Where I notice it the most is in public school. My teachers modeled character. When my daughter graduated from high school, I had to go to her school a total of 11 different times to have an incorrect grade changed because a teacher had forgotten to record an assignmnet or lost a paper. I was appalled at the lack of professionalism.

 

[Cat]

Don’t curse the darkness–be a light! Check out this website: nocussing.com/

Yes, a 14-year-old boy started the No Cussing Club in his schoo in California, of all places, and now it’s catching on all over the world!

I first saw the story on TV, so it’s really gotten “stylish” to not swear.

And along the same lines, I asked my daughter, who is a stage manager in California, why so many movies are “pro-life” lately. She said it’s because of the influence of the Christians and other good people who are behind the scenes working to try to keep Hollywood from becoming completely decadent.

So there’s hope! Do whatever you can to be a light in a very dark world.

 

[Rascalking]

Yes, American Culture is getting much worse.

Twenty years ago, some of the garbage on television today wouldn’t even be thought of to be allowed-even on cable.

The “musicians” out there, we all know who that are, if they even THOUGHT like that in the 1970’s, they wouldn’t be allowed on anything NEAR a mainstream station.

There have always been uncouth things in our culture, but you had to find them-go into a shabby part of town, pray your friends and family don’t see you. Now, that rubish finds you.

For the record, I’m not a prude. I like some things that would make others blush.