GOOD MANNERS seem to be taking it in the chops lately. College students blatantly read newspapers in class. Columnists in these newspapers call the First Daughter ugly. The President calls Rush Limbaugh fat. Rush Limbaugh defends a liberal for calling women broads. Women give men dirty looks for opening doors. Panhandlers gather around the doors to insult passersby. Passersby sport T-shirts insulting panhandlers. Auto bumpers sport stickers telling other drivers what they can eat if they don’t like how the owner is driving. The other drivers make crude gestures because they are trying to get to their assertiveness-training class. The class starts late because the teacher is never on time.
Discourtesy, ingratitude, boorishness, and indecorum are now so much expected in public life that one begins to make sport of them. At any televised awards ceremony, the odds are good that one of the following things will happen: one of the recipients will abuse the presenters; one of the presenters will abuse the recipient; either a presenter or a recipient will abuse third parties not present; or the proceedings will be disrupted by demonstrators. Place your bets.
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