[CFrance]

Originally Posted by eweissenbach

There are many reasons that people may act more rudely today than in the past, but I would posit that mass media is a large one. You can't turn on talk radio without hearing someone screeching about the other side in the most mean spirited way possible. Sports talk radio is filled with egomaniacs who are rude to anyone with a differing opinion. Fox News channel and MSNBC are both full of partisans who love to paint anyone with a differing viewpoint as subhuman. People listen to these one-sided diatribes and many come away believing that only one point of view is reasonable and any other is wrong and even evil. Decorum, reasonable debate and disagreement, and yes, good manners have been replaced by unyielding confrontation. Some people pay no attention, and others simply don't take this contentiousness seriously, but a seeming growing number get very agitated and this often spills over into real life. It is my opinion that politics and political viewpoints are more intense and more freely expressed, often in a rather discomforting way, because of this. This confrontational style has spilled over into other areas of peoples lives, leading to uncomfortable and angry exchanges in some cases. I don't find this issue any more prevalent in TV than in any other place I have been, but find it a troubling sign of the times. JMHO

I agree and would add that the internet and the anonymity it affords has allowed this contentiousness to spread unabated. Just read some of the comments made in response to articles in online newspapers or news venues like NPR. I have never encountered such nastiness. It's distressing.

[Wandatime]

Originally Posted by CFrance

I agree and would add that the internet and the anonymity it affords has allowed this contentiousness to spread unabated. Just read some of the comments made in response to articles in online newspapers or news venues like NPR. I have never encountered such nastiness. It's distressing.

I learned the hard way after posting a recipe -- yes just a recipe -- to never ever read the comments section after an article. By the third posting at the latest, and I dare say without exception, they degrade into ridiculous and unabashed anonymous hatefulness. I used to be distressed as well. Now I just don't read them (I confess it is hard to resist sometimes). It is much better here in my blissfully ignorant happy place.

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by Wandatime

I learned the hard way after posting a recipe -- yes just a recipe -- to never ever read the comments section after an article. By the third posting at the latest, and I dare say without exception, they degrade into ridiculous and unabashed anonymous hatefulness. I used to be distressed as well. Now I just don't read them (I confess it is hard to resist sometimes). It is much better here in my blissfully ignorant happy place.

That's right. And as 2BNTV says, don't let them take up space in your head.

[lovsthosebigdogs]

If my dear father met someone who cut him off in the car or gave him a hard time he used to say, "Boy, THEY must be having a really bad day!" I like to try and believe that and not react to someone's temper and try not to take it personally. I have really great neighbors, although some are definitely friendlier than others and some clearly don't like dogs. That's ok with me and I try to respect that and be a good neighbor. So far I'm not sure if I've been luckily enough not to encounter any negative people in TV or I'm just really good at ignoring the world around me, but so far, so good.

[John_W]

I grew up in Florida. Johnny Carson once joked in his monologue about my town that 'St. Petersburg was the city of the living dead.' As a kid, we would keep our distance from seniors but that was hard to do. My neighbors were all seniors, I had to ride my bike a couple of miles just to find classmates. My Little League folded, Boy Scouts hardly existed, in a city of 200,000 only one high school was needed. When I played golf we were always paired with seniors. My first job was at a downtown hotel operating the elevator. The kind with the cage door and a handle to go up or down. Seven floors of seniors, the Lawrence Welk Show on TV was the nightly lobby entertainment. For a while my father owned and operated a laundromat. All his customers were seniors and boy they were no fun, I dreaded going to that place. Now as a senior citizen myself, I know what kids think about us.

Today, St. Petersburg has really changed their image. The green benches that lined the city streets occupied by the elderly have been removed. Most of the cheap downtown places for seniors have been eliminated. Seniors now move to retirement communities and trailer parks away from the area. Without all the seniors, St. Petersburg is now a place for families to move. Seniors haven't changed, they just live longer and communicate better.

[sunnyatlast]

When I see a crabby, nasty old person being demanding here in TV, it takes me right back to 1962 when, as a child, I would see the old people in my town going to the bank teller window (seemingly daily) to demand that the teller write into their savings passbook today's new balance with the interest accrued since yesterday. Meanwhile, working people were in line to make deposits, get cash, etc. Then the oldies would go to the post office down the street and stand in line to hand their already stamped letter to the postal worker at the counter, when there was both a postal drop box outside on the sidewalk and a drop slot inside. It was like they did this daily routine to get out of the boredom of the house and go downtown to snarl at some younger people.

The place I've seen this exact behavior most is at the post office across from Spanish Springs. While working or younger or traveling people are in line to buy postage for something that has to be weighed or certified/insured, older ones are lengthening the line to do nothing more than hand the stamped letter to the worker at the desk instead of dropping it in the box by the door. The other place I see this "it's all about ME" attitude is at the supermarkets early in the morning. I've learned to avoid those places in the mornings.

[billethkid]

Originally Posted by sunnyatlast

When I see a crabby, nasty old person being demanding here in TV, it takes me right back to 1962 when, as a child, I would see the old people in my town going to the bank teller window (seemingly daily) to demand that the teller write into their savings passbook today's new balance with the interest accrued since yesterday. Meanwhile, working people were in line to make deposits, get cash, etc. Then the oldies would go to the post office down the street and stand in line to hand their already stamped letter to the postal worker at the counter, when there was both a postal drop box outside on the sidewalk and a drop slot inside. It was like they did this daily routine to get out of the boredom of the house and go downtown to snarl at some younger people.

The place I've seen this exact behavior most is at the post office across from Spanish Springs. While working or younger or traveling people are in line to buy postage for something that has to be weighed or certified/insured, older ones are lengthening the line to do nothing more than hand the stamped letter to the worker at the desk instead of dropping it in the box by the door. The other place I see this "it's all about ME" attitude is at the supermarkets early in the morning. I've learned to avoid those places in the mornings.

Assuming one does venture outside the bubble from time to time.....how about crabby/nasty people outside TV. I agree there is a certain amount of the crabiness and nastiness assigned to us "older" folks....but how about outside TV's crabby-nasties?

[maybe]

I have not noticed people here being any worse or better than most other places I have lived. Maybe I have just been lucky.

[Yorio]

Maybe I've been lucky. I haven't met a nasty person in TV yet as I can't help but say something to that person. Though I do notice these days that people do not give smiles as we pass each other as much as we used to. If I were to do a bell curve, I would say 90 o/o are nice and 5 o/o are extremely kind and probably 5o/o are nasty. Given that we have over 100,000, this would mean 5,000 are nasty people. When I was living in Italy, an American couple got on a train in Pisa headed for Florence. Conductor came to check tickets and apparently they didn't know to stamp tickets before they got on. He got very indignant when he had to pay a penalty which was much less than normal penalty. I explained to him about what transpired but he would't listen so I told him he may get 10 times and left. Don't know what happened eventually. It's too bad some people are like that.

[patfla06]

So far the majority of the people I've run into seem to be nice.

I wonder if reality T.V. seems to be rubbing off on some people.
All they show are people at their worst.

Whatever happened to treating others as YOU want to be treated?
Oh I guess that went the way of manners!