When Did Being PC Usurp Being Polite?

 

I looked at the article for some time…like someone would who could not process what they were seeing, reading; like somehow, part of the brain I needed for comprehension had no past reference to assist in this task.

Being polite. We are all human. We are all ladies or gentlemen, despite how we happen to see ourselves in the mirror, are we not?

Caitlyn Jenner is a lady, right?

George Michael was a gentleman, was he not?

If you offer a polite salutation now, somehow, this is offensive?

And as far as I know, no matter what we call ourselves or how we identify sexually, we are still human, and to date, can, and should desire to, be civil?

Or is our world pushing away all modes of civility to make way for the preferred notion of PCing all of us into unidentifiable robots? Like, somehow, to identify as anything is offensive in and of itself.

I am not trying to sound like an asshole here (but to some, I’m sure I do)but from where I’m sitting, society is close to hitting a reasoned tipping point.

I get it, to an extent…

We gave up gloves.

We gave up hats.

We gave up dressing for dinner.

Heck, we gave up our dining room tables on which to have dinner.

But why do we have to stop being polite?

Why?

And why is every living thing now considered offensive to someone?

When, as a species, did we lose our maturity? Our rational thought? Our ability to discern? Our ability to see that not every little thing is about Us, meant to offend Us?

I’m seriously void of all understanding on this.

I was okay with dropping gloves. You can’t pick up anything with them and all they do is get dirty, and require copious amounts of bleach to return to their day glove-wearing glory.

I look hideous in hats so that was a social custom I could easy cast aside.

At one point, I did dress for dinner to please my parents, but sadly, they are both gone now, so my dining room table stands silent in a rather vacant room, more often polished to remove dust than finger prints, and more lovingly gazed upon as an archaeological exhibit.

But at 53, I am not ready to stop being polite.

One world.

One human species.

Despite all attempts at current scientific experiments, just two sexes, no matter which you choose to view in your mirror.

And the societal notion that if such persons are sitting in a commuter train, and not going all Dirty Harry.45 calibre on each other, they are, by definition, Ladies & Gentlemen.

~~~

I’m sure the time is soon approaching when the younger generations look upon my generation with disgust, that what we grew up thinking was civility, could never pass for said today.

But as far as I know, I still have a few years left on Mother Earth, and I’d like to hear once and a while pleasant salutations, just to refine my day so I can assume not all Good is lost in this world in the name of homogeneous nothingness.

Can we all just step away from the hysteria bridge long enough not to become jumpers and consider for a moment that regarding others with respect has absolutely nothing to do with sexual orientation?

Can we? Can we just?

Please tell me we can.

If we cannot, I’m told there’s a banana peel to 6 feet under with my name on it somewhere in the future. I’ll go look for it sooner rather than later. I’m hungry anyways…