Have you seen (um, heard?) the tone of the letters to the editor in the local newspaper lately? Political discourse has deteriorated to the level of "You're dumb! Nah Nah and so's yer mother!" Name calling like I have not witnessed since grade school--and I am probably not giving the kids enough credit.
We have lost the ability to conduct civil discourse. I miss late William F Buckley Jr's turn of phase. Staunch conservative he was, but so well spoken. A touch of snark, perhaps, (well, more than a touch) but snark is better than a sneer. Killingly polite, was that man. He skewered all comers of all political ilks.
I have always found that I am more polite in writing than I might have been if speaking to the opposing view. The time it takes to write it out usually brings a more reasoned tone. Not so much these letters columns, and opinon pieces that I am reading (and railing at) .
Is intelligent disagreement impossible? I don't see how calling the opposition leftists, socialists, facists, or immoral advances anyone's cause. Nor am I amused by jingosim- smiling, shouted or otherwise. . I am not advocating being passionless, far from it. But who can hear any salient point above the noise?
Monday, September 27, 2010
Chivalry, RIP--Civility, Code Blue...
Civility, like its forefather Chivalry, is, if not dead, then certainly on life support and hanging on by a toenail.
It is perhaps my rapidly advancing middle age crankiness, but it seems to me that the quality of driving in Southern California has deteriorated markedly in the last 20 years or so. I have never seen a better example of "it is all about me" than the drivers that grudgingly share the freeway with me on a regular basis. Turn signals are considered optional and are rarely in sync with the direction that the driver is actually going. To use your own signal is to invite the person in the next lane to stomp on the accelerator and fill the gap you were going to move into. That is "their" space, after all. Thus, the tailgating resembling the Autopia at D-land.
Also optional is the observance of the requirement to only use your cell phone in a hands-free mode. I do believe I am the only sucker who thinks you have to obey that law. As I cannot keep a earpiece in my ear to save my life, I am resigned to driving around with a full headset on, ala the old time operators, while watching you drift and weave and change lanes without warning while you yak away on the cell phone in your hand.. Nothing says self absorbed twit like driving like a drunken sailor because that call was more important than us both living to see our destination.
Likewise self-absorbed, or perhaps just thoughtless, was the yahoo who left the remains of his fast food meal in the gutter at the center of the end of my driveway. Thoughtless enough if it were merely tossed, but this was carefully placed, in gutter, next to the barrels at the curb awaiting collection on trash day! Of course, one has to be civilized to be civil, and pigs is pigs, after all.
I more than occasionally wonder that civility as gone the way of the dinosaurs, only to be reminded that there are still some just plain nice people left out there. They wave you into a break in traffic in front of them, let you merge cheerfully, rush to hold the door open with a smile...all things which I thought only I and my family still did. It should not touch me so deeply that these once-common courtesies are still observed, but touch me it does. Almost gives you hope.
Civility may be gasping for breath, but these gestures are life's oxygen.
It is perhaps my rapidly advancing middle age crankiness, but it seems to me that the quality of driving in Southern California has deteriorated markedly in the last 20 years or so. I have never seen a better example of "it is all about me" than the drivers that grudgingly share the freeway with me on a regular basis. Turn signals are considered optional and are rarely in sync with the direction that the driver is actually going. To use your own signal is to invite the person in the next lane to stomp on the accelerator and fill the gap you were going to move into. That is "their" space, after all. Thus, the tailgating resembling the Autopia at D-land.
Also optional is the observance of the requirement to only use your cell phone in a hands-free mode. I do believe I am the only sucker who thinks you have to obey that law. As I cannot keep a earpiece in my ear to save my life, I am resigned to driving around with a full headset on, ala the old time operators, while watching you drift and weave and change lanes without warning while you yak away on the cell phone in your hand.. Nothing says self absorbed twit like driving like a drunken sailor because that call was more important than us both living to see our destination.
Likewise self-absorbed, or perhaps just thoughtless, was the yahoo who left the remains of his fast food meal in the gutter at the center of the end of my driveway. Thoughtless enough if it were merely tossed, but this was carefully placed, in gutter, next to the barrels at the curb awaiting collection on trash day! Of course, one has to be civilized to be civil, and pigs is pigs, after all.
I more than occasionally wonder that civility as gone the way of the dinosaurs, only to be reminded that there are still some just plain nice people left out there. They wave you into a break in traffic in front of them, let you merge cheerfully, rush to hold the door open with a smile...all things which I thought only I and my family still did. It should not touch me so deeply that these once-common courtesies are still observed, but touch me it does. Almost gives you hope.
Civility may be gasping for breath, but these gestures are life's oxygen.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Sticking my toe in the water
I have not the foggiest if anyone will read this, other than me, but I had the title and the basic premise, and thought, well here I go: A Los Angeles raised Valley kid, living in the shadow of D-Land for the last 30 years. I have done battle (unintentioned when it began) in print with persons as far flung as the (now former) Seattle City Attorney. I do write a nifty letter. My "letters to the editor" of the local paper often find their way to print, which I think is a hoot. I imagine they irritate more often than they cause a raised coffee cup, and a "you go" from the readers. Occasionally they provoke a response, which, I guess, gives them the last word...which I would prefer to have for myself, ~neener neener~ . That is, perhaps, why I am trying out this blogging thing. That, and exercising that ancient English degree for other than the most charming and literate of business letters. Opinions I have many, and the cat doesn't really give a hoot. 0 : )
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