Decline in Civility and Increase in Hypersensitivity (and Political Correctness)

[Aristotle]

I'm not sure where I am going with this, as it is a rough idea. I'll open with two postulates:

1) There is a noticeable decline in civility in our culture (mainly US, but perhaps elsewhere also) over the past few decades.

2) There is a noticeable increase in hypersensitivity (and political correctness) as far as things people get offended by, make a huge issue out of, etc.

I think both of these things are true, and both of them are extremely negative. I also wonder to what degree they feed off of each other.

Here is an example of both phenomena at work:

Woman bounced from Southwest flight for T-shirt

A Washington state woman intends to press a civil-rights case against Southwest Airlines for booting her off a flight in Reno after fellow passengers complained about a message on her T-shirt.

Lorrie Heasley, of Woodland, Wash., was halfway home on a flight Tuesday that began in Los Angeles, wearing a T-shirt with the pictures of President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a phrase similar to the popular film, Meet the Fockers.

...

And she felt she had the right to wear it.

...

After several conversations with flight attendants, Heasley agreed to cover the words by cuddling up with a sweatshirt. When the sweatshirt slipped while she was trying to sleep, she was ordered to wear her T-shirt inside-out or leave. The couple chose to leave.

McInnis said the rules filed with the FAA say the airline will deny boarding to any customer whose conduct is offensive, abusive, disorderly or violent or for clothing that is "lewd, obscene, or patently offensive."

...

Heasley said she is in touch with ACLU lawyers in Seattle. She wants Southwest to reimburse the couple for the last leg of their trip and pay for her gasoline, a $68 rental car from Avis and a $70 hotel bill.

Before leaving the plane, she said she was told the airline would reimburse her for the tickets for the last leg of the flight. After they got off the plane, they were told they'd be reimbursed only for the taxes on the tickets. McInnis said customer services officials are looking into the matter.

Before someone tries to get cheeky, she left the plane during a lay over.

Where do I even begin?

1) Wearing a shirt like that is very uncivil. Anybody with a clue is going to know that many people will find it offensive. An airplane is not a place to make a political statement. It is a place for order and calm. There is too much at stake to have people taking it upon themselves to be clever or witty. That is why for decades it has been illegal to joke about bombs and such in an airport or on an airplane.

2) To the people who complained, I can only say "Life sucks, get a cowl." Seriously you bunch of jelly spined pussies, is that really such a devasating message? I realize and understand that our extremely vitriolic political climate (along with constant Bush bashing from every single corner of the media) makes people who like Bush & Co. hypersensitive. But the message on that shirt is, ultimately, very minor. One would truly have to be very hypersensitive to get offended by that shirt.

3) For the love of god woman, it was dumb enough to wear the shirt, but then you cannot even go into the bathroom and turn it inside out? Ridiculous.

4) Civil rights case? Give me a break. The airplane is private property. There is no state action. That is pure silliness. A civil law suit for damages (getting her plane ticket and costs reimbursed) is fine. But a civil rights case is crazy. She claims she is only trying to get reimbursed, but the fact that it is a civil rights case implies, to me, that much greater damages will eventually be sought.

5) Southwest: Is it really so damn hard to just reimburse the woman her ~$200 for the flight she did not receive, rental, and hotel room?

We see here an example of what I was alluding to at the beginning. There are two things present at the same time- either of which would have prevented this from becoming a "situation."

The woman should not have worn the shirt (civility).

The people on the plane should have just ignored it rather than complaining to the stewardesses (hypersensitivity).

So which comes first?

I really don't know. But what I do know, is that these two concepts are in a death spiral that is making both things worse. Our entire culture suffers greatly as a result.

[Gromgor]

The problem is a fundamental lack of respect. People no longer say Please or Thank you. They don't hold doors for others. People completely ignore common decency and acts of politeness. Of course this isn't helped at all by the reactions many get when they do try to be polite.

You just can't win in this world.

[kestra]

I have to agree. We're definitely in a "me first" society. I think some people in this day and age just wait to be insulted and almost yearn to be offended; in order to feel better about themselves at someone else's expense.
But when it comes to politicians, any of them, I have no problem whatsoever with their continual ridicule; or public protest by its citizens, be it on T-shirts, soapboxes or whatever. I think Americans politicians have it easy when compared to others from say the UK or Canada. Granted, they are certain times and places where it'd be in bad taste to do and say certain things(like that student asking the US soldier if he was raped); however, that T shirt would make me laugh.
It seems alot of people are intolerant of our leaders being satirized, ridiculed or questioned in serious ways. I personally believe that's a ridiculous position to have.

[Lokrian]

Originally posted by kestra
But when it comes to politicians, any of them, I have no problem whatsoever with their continual ridicule; or public protest...

Ridicule is one thing, but continual ridicule is another. I also would like to point out that though a lot of people jam up politicians as if they were universally bad folks, the fact is that if you ever try to sit people down and ask them what THEY would like done, the disagreements and the vitriole are just as strong among the folks as it is in the media and among policiticians, or at least that's been my experience.

In the USA, every single one of us has as much right as the next person to become a politician and change the world. Interesting how few of us want to weather that sort of challenge, given how strongly we all claim to feel about certain things.

I think the open season concept on politicians is a big part of the problem of getting to issues based elections and away from the politics of personal popularity.

That's not to say I disrespect the idea that policitians need to be held accountable, or that there are not times when the ridicule may be well deserved, but just as a policy in general I have to disagree.

[Raeghin]

I agree both sides are being ridiculous.

With regards to the woman and her shirt..big freakin deal. If she were wearing a shirt that said "Fuck Iraq" no one woulda said a word to her. Despite the lack of civility or respect this generation has acheived, you have to find it a bit petty that the passengers had nothing better to do, like read the SkyMall catalog! Sometimes I think this country is turing so PC that sooner or later we won't be a free country but censored in everything so as not to offend any living thing on the planet. Secondly, to the air staff and passenegers on the Southwest flight....GET A SENSE OF HUMOR.

This should't even be a newsworthy item, I feel. Maybe if she were wearing a shirt that says "I am hiding C4 in my hoohoo and I'm not afraid to use it, take the plane hostage and crash it into Fergie's (from the black eye'd peas) house" or something of that ilk, I could understand the hulaballoo. I don't know who is more annoying, the chick, Southwest, the passengers or the freakin media for giving this a spotlight.

[Lokrian]

Call me old fashioned, but I feel like wearing "Fuck" anything in public is a little on the rude side. This whole issue might have been resolved a few decades ago by the person being sent packing back home to take off the offending shirt on a disturbance of the peace rap or some such.

Which incidentally makes me wonder if a big part of the problem isn't the rejection of simple common courtesy by society in general. Why ARE the airlines and the passengers and everyone else in the wrong here? One person pisses off an entire airplane full of people and somehow it is everyone elses fault too?

Maybe you can't have it both ways. Maybe you either have to have a polite society where occasionally people land in jail at least for a day or so for simply being rude, or one where people are allowed to ride the ragged edge without getting into legal trouble, but not both.

[Aristotle]

Originally posted by kestra

But when it comes to politicians, any of them, I have no problem whatsoever with their continual ridicule; or public protest by its citizens, be it on T-shirts, soapboxes or whatever.

I disagree. The reason I disagree is because this kind of treatment dramatically worsens the quality of individual you get who is willing to run for office.

What the media is doing to George Bush right now is ridiculous. Let us just use ONE publication as an example: Newsweek.

I just got my Newsweek for this week, and 3 out of 3 comics in the Perspective section (the most popular section of the magazine) are anti-Bush. Almost every single quote on the page was also anti-Bush. That is supposedly a page of interesting quotes from around the country, and yet they are 100% anti-Bush. How is that possible?

Since Bush was elected, they've given him a down arrow in their little weekly "movers and shakers" category about 95% of the time.

Last week, the cover was "Iraq War + Katrina - Lower Taxes = ???" which totally ignores the fact that we are actually bringing in more tax REVENUE now than before the tax cuts. That's just outright lying. If they had any interest in being honest, that would have been "Iraq War + Katrina + Higher Tax Revenue = ???"

The degree to which Katrina was blamed on Bush was crazy and would NEVER have happened if Clinton had been President.

Let me come right out and admit that I dislike George Bush. I cannot wait for his presidency to be over. I don't think he is horrible, I don't think he is evil, I don't think he hates "blacks/poor/insert group here", and I don't think he is a liar, but I think he is a poor leader who fails to inspire and fails to champion bold, grand ideas and solutions to problems. He is also addicted to buying votes through crazy spending and crony back patting.

But even though I have an unfavorable opinion of him, I am still sick and fucking tired of the constant Bush bashing. I highly doubt I am the only one.

I bet there are a lot of people out there who would be amazingly good and productive Presidents, Senators, and Congressmen who say "Screw that. I have better things to do with my life than put up with that treatment."

We are the ones who suffer because of it.

[Dalaena]

Originally posted by Lokrian
Call me old fashioned, but I feel like wearing "Fuck" anything in public is a little on the rude side.

I totally agree with this. I'm tired of people cursing without regard to the people around them, whether it be verbally or on a t-shirt. People who do this like to claim that it's "just words", but if it's "just words", then it would be just as easy not to say them in public.

It's so unpleasant to be in a crowded area or in a restaurant and hear someone cursing happily into their cell phone. People who go around screaming "fuck you" at each other in public are extremely annoying as well.

[Gromgor]

It's like the old saying "I wouldn't be a member of any club that would have me".

I can't trust a president that wants to be president.

At least not in todays society. They have to be masochists.

[Pyrosama]

Originally posted by Gromgor

I can't trust a president that wants to be president.

At least not in todays society. They have to be masochists.

It really sort of depends on the motive, doesn't it? If you see a situation and you care and want to change it for the better, then it takes alot of courage to step up and put yourself out there for all to criticize when you are making the decisions that need to be made.

A President is just that, someone who steps up to the plate for one reason or another. It's not necessarily that they expect to get beat up. I think for the most part they really do want to fix the world and expect that most citizens wish to do the same and put aside their own biases.

I honestly believe that the reason we don't have the kind of leaders that we had in the past is because those with true hearts and brilliant minds do not have the will and/or self-confidence to withstand those beatings that we as a society promote by ralling behind the sideline hecklers who gain a certain superiority from putting down folks that step up to begin with.

I honestly see this as an epidemic brought on by and exacerbated by the media that we have today which is totally void of any public responsibility and lacking in any ethical standards... and God forbid me for saying this, but lacking in the ability to report rather than judge for one side or the other in hopes to gain ratings.

Did I mention that I HATE the media?

I hope I didn't go off topic, but if I did I'm sorry.