Why is everyone such low-class trash now?

OP, whatever happened to kindness? You sound like a mean person

You also seem to believe you're superior to everyone "Everyone sucks but me! Waaaahhhh!"

Good manners means calling people "low class trash" apparently

So kind

Now, no one even says "oops" when they're passing their gas!

Surround yourself with a few good people. Eat good, get a good night's rest. You'll be fine.

Liaisons, what's happened to them.?

[quote] Their homes and work spaces are a reck.

[quote] Get you sorry acts together.

Physician, heal thyself!

R3, This one's for you.

Kindness Is Free.

I blame that rock-and-roll rubbish.

OP, referring to people as "low-class trash" does not indicate you to be other than what you are complaining about.

They are all over OP's lawn again!

We've been through over four decades of corporate raiding of the public sector, offshoring, defunding of public education, destruction of unions, deindustrialization, reactionary undermining of institutions, the collapse of newspapers and other local media...and that's just scratching the surface.

What did you think the collateral damage of that on our culture would be, OP? A heightened appreciation of opera?

Just flew this week and the people I saw on my plane? YIKES!.. looks like they woke up at the beach, with trashy clothes, suspect cleanliness, flip flops,... people taking their shoes off and walking around the cabin barefoot! people not listening and not shutting off their devices... people throwing trash on the floor and overall just plain rudeness in the airport terminal.... WTF?..

not to mention nowadays, manners, like excuse me, i'm sorry, thank you are considered "weakness"....

Newer generations were never taught manners by their "guardians" who never had them, OP; and so, worse yet, they don't even know when they're being rude, selfish, dirty, narcissistic or trashy anymore. I used to loathe my parents strictly correcting and disciplining us into being polite and well-behaved when we were kids in the 1960s and early '70s; now I'm so grateful for having had that foundation, although you really do feel like you stick out like a sore thumb with any kind of good manners or carrying of yourself in today's society.

Yes r14. We are somehow freaks now because we don’t pull out pants down to shit in an alley and then just keep waliking like it’s nothing unusual.

It used to be that there was always that one student or that one family that acted like they were raised by wolves but now it’s the inverse. Everyone is trash except that one person with good manners.

I’m talking about just basic, rudimentary cleanliness and hygiene and basic manners and respect. Even that is just gone. Nowhere to be found.

OP you make up a lot of stupid threads

And what of your contributions r18.

Just because the subject of this thread is about you doesn’t mean it’s stupid. Maybe you can learn something.

I do what I want!

Another thing that people do a lot now is not admit when they were wrong. That is one of the cornerstones of decency.

I got groceries yesterday and the girl at the checkout acted exactly like the girl in the hospital in Idiocracy.

Whenever I go by by subway to work there’s always someone yelling into their phone with speakerphone turned on. I don’t need to hear you fight with your girlfriend/boyfriend at 7:30 in the morning.

Remember the videos from like 10 years ago of “people at Walmart” and they were all dressed real skanky and crazy well that’s everywhere now.

I am also getting a sense that people are just more siloed away than ever and they don’t relate to people even living next door anymore. Everyone is a stranger if that makes sense.

When amassing first started delivering things other than books you could leave boxes on your poured for weeks and nobody stole them. It was their business model.

*amazon

Places like fast food, retail and hotels are hiring the junkies right off the street now. I’m seeing people with track marks. Nodding off at work etc. the have scabs all over.

And even “normal” people don’t shave anymore. They dress like slobs and are all extremely unhealthy.

Also go in any store or public place and it stinks now. I think that nobody cleans the floors anymore. I saw the same dirty smudge on the floor when I purchased an item at a local department store and the same smudge was there 3 days later when I went to return it. (Marshall’s)

Disgusting. So for THREE DAYS a store did not clean its floors so I started paying attention to the floors everywhere. They are all disgusting and not being cleaned for days or weeks.

When did that start? Why is that Ok? Where is the health inspector?

With all this disease going around how is this legal?

People are so disgusting on their nasty staph ridden cellphones and they don’t even notice they are rolling around it weeks old filth everywhere they go.

Old man yells at a cloud.

Those who worry of casting pearls before swine are often lacking in pearls.

Yeah. Like I’m the problem here.

There is a threshold where uncleanliness becomes unsanitary and I’m not going through it quietly.

We have to have some basic standards as a society. What’s to keep people from pissing in the grocery store isles? Why bother waddling all the way to the restrooms.

Will everybody notice then? Will everyone look up from their cellphones, in unison, and demand to have basic minimum cleanliness standards?

[quote]When amassing first started delivering things

This is one of the single greatest (i.e. unintentionally but profoundly correct) typos I've ever seen, R24. Thank you.

Corporations don't pay staff enough or staff heavily enough to clean shit.

You want to continue getting cheapest goods and having criminally underpaid workers, that is the price.

[quote] We have to have some basic standards as a society. What’s to keep people from pissing in the grocery store isles? Why bother waddling all the way to the restrooms.

If that's really an issue where you are, you may consider moving out of that trailer park town and leaving your red state.

Fuck off and learn to spell before being a self righteous cunt, OP.

We need to bring back dress codes and enforce them. Nobody wants to see your ugly neck tatto or your “tusk” pericings or your “sleeve” tatoo.

And cover your mouths when you cough and close them when full of food.

People just sneeze out into the open air. We are living in a pee-tree dish and nobody cares.

Dear Everyone In This Thread:

Be the change you wish to see in the world.

Not because I'm so great - I apply the above to myself as much as anyone else - but because it's the only way to achieve the world you wish for.

With the exception of the last two, I had a sting of hookups show up completely filthy and expect to have sex. Including one who was in the same clothes as the day before. Which means no bath for at least 24 hours.

People and places just stink now and smell like sweat and dirt.

When men stopped wearing hats and women girdles all hope for manners was lost.

We used to teach children manners and respect for others. I think getting rid of the draft and ending civics classes disassociated all of us.

some of us are the change and the only decency that some of these ogres will experience on any given day. but most people don’t even know how to be respectful. It’s not even something they can conceive. People stare at me everywhere I go and ask me if I’m a movie star or “who is he” and people ohh and ahh and all I do is bathe and keep a clean look. No I’m not exaggerating. It’s because I tend to tuck in my shirt and I bathe daily and wear clean, pressed clothes.

I happened to luck out on an aging rental at the very edge of a nice neighborhood and outside of this tiny enclave and its few amenities, everyone is a hopeless, tragic slob.

Here you go...

Op is mad as hell, and he's not going to take this anymore!

Peoples biggest excuse is money but that is no excuse. I don’t have any money and if I can do it, anyone can. My place is small and old but it’s spotless. My clothes are mostly from goodwill. I contribute towards the care of a disabled person and still find time to keep a neat appearance and be respectful and polite.

I agree, OP. A friend and I were just having discussion. People are so underhanded these days and self serving these days. I imagine in the 50s people were more compassionate towards each other.

One look at the Rupert Murdoch granddaughter wedding thread shows how far society has down as far as class, even for the mega rich.

Society needs role models instead we have people like Zuckerburg and Musk who in a “normal” society would be shunned as affected and vengeful former nerds turned evil doers instead of the “tech geniuses” that we’ve been led to believe long enough for them to scrape out hundreds of billions of dollars in personal wealth.

Don't look at me, gays! 🖕

It’s the result of consumer culture. Of you can go shopping at Walmart or rodeo drive nothing else matters.

If you want people to cultivate manners, decorum and taste then they need a culture to actually do that within and enough leisure time (not rest) to attempt it.

That is not the society the Capitalists are paying anyone to have, so...

“Wreck”

The airlines are missing out on what could be a spectacularly profitable market segment, those who do not wish to fly with the hoi polloi. They could charge ten times the regular fare, and have dress requirements on what they could call the Prissy Sissy flights. Their slogan: "No coat and tie? You don't fly."

I think at the root of it all is that humans have the ability to collectively “lift themselves up” with classical values and when they don’t live up to that, as a group, it’s a waste. It’s inefficient. And unnatural.

Everything is being stymied. No doubt.

I don’t blame individuals necessarily but individuals are where the solution lies.

We each have to make an effort for all of us to benefit.

I think Covid lowers a person's inhibitions and might raise their aggression.

I think there has been a long term change to societal behavior, beyond Trump and quarantining, that is the result of a neurological effect from Covid infections damaging the brain.

Was it COVID that made everyone not give a fuck about anything anymore? Everywhere you go, you see the collapse of our society - mostly in very small ways. Shit, i just got back from CVS and there was no fucking shopping carts in the front. NONE! I looked and they were all cluttered in the parking lot! You mean they cant hire someone to get fucking carts anymore? There are only 2 cashiers open with ten customers waiting in each line. Shit, i’m going to leave my shit right on the floor and walk out if the lines are too long again. No excuse for this…. .

I think everyone's just tired.

We have been bombarded by propaganda, internet candy, inflation, and increasing divide between classes. It's become a point of pride to "not care". Many people will support you if you don't care.

This so somewhat related but the facial hair thing is a personal peeve of mine and how it is used as a weapon of offense now.

I don’t really mean the hipster beard thing although I hate that too but at least it’s usually groomed.

What I mean is all the scruffy, messy, bushy, uneven, hobo looking unkempt messy schlubs and that’s all I see anymore.

Remember people watching?

Crushing for hot guys?

Checking out studs at the beach?

Good luck. Everyone is hideous to look at.

R41, it is so interesting to me this you mention the ending of Civics classes. I was in India a couple months ago, which has very quickly become this way as well (just bear with me, the middle class has coarsened in the past fifteen years or so, much as it has here), and our driver attributed it to civics not being taught anymore.

You would think the parents would, but then you look at them...

Maintaining this society represents a huge amount of overhead, and we can't afford it anymore.

R55 you nailed it for me. It is in these moments that I most feel the crushing walls of society losing in. Yet there we stand. And wait.

Did you happen to check out the floor at CVS?

I’m going to put my shot down next time too by the way. Maybe if enough people start doing that CVS will spend the 1% of their profits to make a huge difference in the employee and customer experience.

It’s a crappy world

Good points

I bet the parking lot looked like a dumpster.

CVS is making record profits by the way. And their whole brand is “health” yet their stores are festering with disease and neglect.

Peasants are easier to control.

What we need is more finishing schools!

And the near-complete annihilation of social cohesion, R12.

[quote]What we need is more finishing schools!

Oh, dear!

Where is all the new?

The new business? It’s all the same old zombie brands owned by their 5th hedge fund in as many years.

The new movies? All repeats.

New Fasion? all recycled.

New Music, All samples.

It goes on and on.

The people need something brand new. Something fresh. They need something they haven’t seen before. Or at least in a generation.

R71 barn door, horses gone.

Even wealthy people are kind of trashy. They either look tacky like the Kardashians or dress like bums to hide their wealth.

There's a lot of reasons. I haven't had time to read through yet. I think part of it is people aren't rewarded, or at least think they're not rewarded, by not being low-class trash. Also, I think it's this hopeless spiral downward. Everyone deals with trash and are often treated poorly or ignored or worse. There's no social contract. People who used to make an effort no longer do because they figure "what's the point?" in light of never seeing good behavior welcomed or reciprocated or bad behavior truly punished.

It's the end of the world as we know it...

Collapse of Western Civilization again.

It happens every 500-1000 years or so.

You should know, Miss OP. You’re the trashiest trash who ever trashed!

I think it's trashy to use the word "everyone" when describing an issue, OP.

Your hyperbole makes you trashy.

I don't associate with trashy folks. They've been around forever.

None of the folks I know have turned into trashy people.

I think it's all too easy to look at the internet for reasons to back up the claim of increased trashiness. That, and going through a pandemic where people have stopped caring in a lot of ways.

Make sure you aren't judging people for being unfashionable or poor. Trash comes in all classes and colors as we have seen.

I’m horny

Good article posted above. But if its true about the side effects of COVID on social cohesion, then why are we not having any dialogue about it? Why is the media so fixated on goading people, cheering them on annihilate the other side? Its like a bloodsport now. I used to watch the news whenever I ate just to catch up on events. Now, to just makes my blood boil with no accountability being the constant theme. FCS we hear more about Dump everyday 24/7 - more than when he was president. What and why do we have this unhealthy obsession with this fucked upness? Especially that nothing is being done. Why?

A part of me wishes thew can have a Dump-free news day. Just to cover other important news here and abroad. Even these everyday mass shootings goes back to the Extreme Court and then Dump. Why cant the news cover if and when something is actually done about the matter. Its driving people nuts already. We get it: people are getting away with murder.

Why this constant drumbeat that never ends? Its like an interminable middle act when the writer cant figure out the third act. Enough already. We are all struggling with COVID PTSD and this hate-hate makes it much worse.

I could go on about how our quality of life has gone down the shitter with no end in sight….please speak on how we can heal, please.

Ironically this is right below the Madonna whipping her tit out thread.

I don't want to live in the timeline where Bob Dylan is the most interesting man in the world.

[quote]Also go in any store or public place and it stinks now. I think that nobody cleans the floors anymore.

I noticed this about a decade ago with a local chain called Freddy's. They were always so clean and nice, then one summer I went in with a friend, and our shoes stuck to the floor. The whole place smelled like rotten milk. I figured there had been an incident, so we left and went elsewhere. Several weeks later I went back and it was still sticky and rancid.

We also had a Long John Silver's that had a sewer backup into the restaurant. It made the news because all they did was mop the floor, lock the restrooms, and kept serving. The place got closed down by the Health Department eventually, but it took months.

Perhaps simplistic, but I've always said issues in this country are "unchecked and rewarded stupidity, hate and greed".....

[bold] We thoroughly approve of this thread.

I'm not against body positivity but I'm seeing alot of fat women wearing thongs under transparent skirts. Please stop. Nobody wants to see your fat ass.

People who disagree, what are we supposed to do? Embrace crass culture, casual murder and constant social mayhem?

That’s your response?

The twinks these days are horrible! No manners at all. They will block you or ignore you if you message them. Half of them are only on the apps to push their OnlyFans and not actually hookup. No manners or decency these days. Not to mention their hygiene…

What about the ugly teens that look like complete shit that have their Venmo and cashapp listed on their socials? What is that about. Do people send them money?

I think there’s a general disregard for standards, the law and other people, which manifests into bad behavior. A lot of people find a sense of power in it, some people just don’t care. Ultimately if there’s no “payoff”to act civilly, people just don’t bother. Just because someone learns to act nice, doesn’t mean they are.

Everybody’s hair looks like a birds nest now. And in fact, I’m pretty sure some of them are active bird nests.

Ymmm, so sexy. I love a guy who is so out of shape that he is both fat and skinny at the same time, has an uneven neck beard and hair like a bird’s next. My ideal type. Throw in a face tatoo and put them in some wrinkly pajamas and you have “the look”.

I know you gays are going to hate me for this, but this white B**ch has some good points. It’s just shocking coming from the likes of her! Just listen to the audio only if her Karen appearance is too disconcerting. But this “female person” says it all point fucking blank!

Holy cow I love this woman. She is so succinct. Maybe even the deplorables could follow the logic.

They were patriotic Americans at one point.

I doubt it. They will want to rape her and force her to give birth in order to shut her bitch mouth shut! She should be forced to raise the rape child with her rapist to keep this cunt down where she belongs. That sounds more like it to Evangelical white supremacist males!=GOP.

It all started when men stopped wearing hats and women stopped wearing gloves in public.

They should bring back gloves considering how filthy these corporations run their shops.

You wonder why all these diseases are breaking out because everything is filthy. If you clean your shop once a day you cut back dramatically on people getting sick, employees calling out…

I know somebody who got pink eye at Walmart.

I know somebody who got the stinkeye at Walmart.

The self scanning cashier machines are vectors of disease. Every time you swipe your stuff over those scummy bar code readers and tap that petri dish screen you’re asking for it.

All it would take is someone to clean it a few times throughout the day with some disinfectant and paper towels.

R103, is it any worse than having the cashier breathing on you?

They don’t clean the rental cars anymore either. They just run a hose over them and the stupid swine customers don’t even notice all the smudges on the control screens, finger prints on the door handles and steering wheels, hair product on the head rests, the smell of the last renter’s perfume and the crumbs on the floor and personal items left in the cracks.

This is every company doing this. The customers see the water on the car and assumed it was washed. That is the trick they all use now. Splash some water on it and the customer is 20 miles away before they realize it.

We’ve abandoned our desire to better ourselves. Has COVID turned us all into fatalists? I understand we were all in a rat race and that our overlords wanted us to die like rats working til we dropped dead in the saddle. But seeing, realizing this make us all entirely apathetic? This is NOT a good sign. It should make us fight back, not lie down and die.

That’s one person exposing to me, vs the hundreds that have sneezed and snotted all over the bar code scanner.

Here's a serious answer OP

It's the same reason they vote for Trump-- a way to "own the Libs" which in this case means the Meritocrats

In the midcentury Pax Americana period many DLers seem stuck in, the stage was set for massive class mobility--college was cheap, so was suburban housing.

As the years went on, a perception arose that the people still stuck in the working class were somehow lacking, that it was their fault they did not succeed. This led to massive resentment on their part and the feeling that the Meritocrats "think they're better than us."

This is notable because for centuries, social class was fairly immutable and if you were poor or working class it was because you were born into it, something you had not control over.

But now if you remained working class, it was actually your fault because you weren't smart enough to go to college and get the right job.

Hence the massive resentment and the lack of trying and the delight in horrifying the meritocrats with the sort of trashy behavior that says "I don't give a fuck,"

I fight back. Many times I’m the lone, whaling voice in a crowd of appeasers and doormats.

Also trashy people don’t pay a price for it. Or they don’t believe they do anyway. I disagree and believe that they do in fact pay a very high price for it.

I regret each time I have to leave the house these days! Fucking disregard for everything. No one gives a fuck and if they can fuck a random person over….well, good! I don’t get it! Shouldn’t we try to get each other over this shit instead of marinating and hating, rat fucking each other? I don’t get it!

I am not whaling because I don’t have a boat for it!

Yes, it goes something like this:

I am in a coffee shop. One man in the tiny area for ordering is staring at his phone clearly waiting for his order. Two "baristas" ignoring me. Him. Me. Waiting forever as they do nothing. "Eww" says Green Hair, staring at a machine. The other rushes over. Minutes tick by as I wonder if I am somehow invisible. "Have a nice day, ladies" I say finally. "Excuse me?" says Green Hair in a snot nosed voice as I exit, forever wondering what "eww" meant.

Library, my sweet refuge, bibliophile heaven. Twenty-something with Unusual Attention Seeking Haircut two chairs over. We read. He makes weird noises as I turn pages. After a time, he leaves. I decide to look over at his chair. He's left a tiny pile of change on the floor, a soda can tab, and a gum wrapper.

Tiny examples. The women at the coffee shop were not being hounded. They simply did not. Give. A. Shit. Because nobody has to anymore, for some reason.

WTF!

[quote] With the exception of the last two, I had a sting of hookups show up completely filthy and expect to have sex. Including one who was in the same clothes as the day before. Which means no bath for at least 24 hours.

And did you still fuck them?

Draw them a sensual bath... it's a trick for the grimy.

Most people have always been low rent, low born trash, OP.

What wasn't so 40 years ago is that we didn't have social media and cable news, which has to fill its empty spaces with content. So now we hear all about the dumb people and their trashy behavior.

There are plenty decent people OP. You don't see much of them because they don't do things or live their lives in ways that make them noticeable, especially in the media. They are quiet, unassuming, and private people who go about their lives not bothering another soul, and trying to make sure no one else bothers them.

We just have a lot more people nowadays.

So the poor, middle class, and uncouth have exploded exponentially, especially post baby boom.

Politicians like Trump, Sarah Palin, Rand Paul, Margery Taylor Green and others have shown it's acceptable to be uncivilized and basically a horrible human being.

We are experiencing unusually high call volume and I can't reply to the thread at this time. If you would like for me to call back and reply later, you will not lose your place in line.

R121, we have on line one, long time listener, first time caller, a Miss UpYourAss.

Megadittoes, R122

This cracked me up! There is hope because women wont take shit from this guy. I hope the Extremes never live another moment in peace. We are fighting back - FINALLY!

Keep it up, America! Notice DRUNKY-RAPEY Kavanaugh is eating alone. No wifey and family to chow down some steak with.

Would you like some beer with your steak dinner, Mr. keger?

Did Morton’s get some of that PPP funds (Paid Protection Program) that was supposed to go to small businesses? I know Ruth Chris Steakhouse was a “small” enough business to qualify! These corporate welfare cheats are the biggest grifters, abetted by the likes of these elites. All your small Mom and Pop eateries suffered and disappeared during COVID to never reappear. But the likes of Morton’s have the nerve to say they have a “right” to eat in peace.

The blame falls on the Jerry Springer show! Gave trash a voice and here we are.

[quote] They should bring back gloves considering how filthy these corporations run their shops. R100

I really thought women’s gloves might make a comeback because of covid.

I’m 43 so it’s probably too young to feel like Grandpa Simpson but OP is onto something. Since I was a kid I’ve noticed a decline in culture; just in the way people present themselves and behave. I was brought up to have class, to be kind, and polite, and I just feel there’s been a cultural shift toward “do or say whatever you like” and that’s seen as “being real”. There’s less empathy, more emphasise on individualism over all else, yet that “individualism” is actually just about being a “brand” and getting fired up by the echo chamber of social media. There’s a huge anti-intellectualism now, nobody listens to experts in any field and people make emotionally based choices on matters like politics rather than out of objective thinking and reason (hence the advent of Trump and Brexit). Maybe this has been going on for a much longer time and social media lays it bear.

Has anyone noticed how invasive and jarring TV commercials are these days!? They are downright intrusive on tv content. Even on free Roku it’s fucking rude how they cut into programming. What’s with that crap? Even on youtube. Do advertisers sincerely think this will enhance sales? You’ve got to be kidding me. That and CNN/MSNBC have 10-minute long commercial breaks between ever ~15 minutes of programming.

Why must EVERYTHING be monetized these days!?

Well, they have to make time for the Pig Pharma 4 minute “stories”

Again R130 - it's the class division thing and many DLers are on the wrong side of it

Other people don't watch TV with commercials.

Except maybe during sporting events in which case it's mostly beer commercials during a half time break

All those values being praised in this thread are the epitome of whiteness. Caring how people act and dress is a form of white privilege and oppression. In order for this country to be peaceful and equitable, we must demolish whiteness.

Amen.

But the whites term that as “Replacement”.

I just don't understand how more POC babies will make it better for whites upon getting rid of Roe? The logic fails me. White women will ALWAYS be able to access abortions, no matter what! Their Evangelical white supremacist efforts contradict their own objectives!

r133, That's an interesting perspective. Other than a relaxed dress code, I wonder what values you would like to see preserved after whiteness is demolished. A list of white vs. non-white values would be interesting for discussion. Also, what I'm wondering just how to demolish whiteness it's hard to visualize. Paint a picture of your social utopia for us.

When we relax the dress code can we go nude and have sex in public or are clothes and public decency considered white values?

R129... the book by Tom Nichols "the death of expertise".... Everyone should read this..

...Everyone should read this...before it is banned. Or take an hour and listen to him on c-span.

White people are filthy! They are taken to sitting on the bare ground and don’t believe in washing their hair or their hands. They believe they have a right to wash at public baths and can’t fathom why they contract athlete’s feet. They believe that “spit soap” will build up their immunity.

Methinks someone is playing you R136--that post was meant as parody

You mean like these elegant and refined damsels?

Is that a clip from a Fux Channel affiliate? Because such footage of anti-black news is definitely NOT widely distributed. Its plain and obvious that this highly-selected and highly-edited footage was designed to disparage black people. Is it some Longuyland footage, Suffolk County stuff? I mean really…you are being manipulated to think that black people ordinarily act like this. White supremacist selected propaganda piece!

R142 NBC NewYork. Women arrested, employees injured and/or traumatised.

My theory: People still have the pandemic and the stress, anxiety and unrest it brought with it, in their system. There's also the fear that we might go back to isolation, 24/7 masks, etc.

It will take time, at least as long as the entire pandemic (and it isn't over, yet!) for people to start living again.

Some cope better than others. I find that it's been just a few months that I feel like life is good again.

There is also the point of labour shortages all over the world: People got laid off, did some thinking, and decided not to go back to their shitty jobs that didn't even pay enough to make ends meet. Now airports, restaurants, ports and supply chains are in chaos. All of this, combined with the Russian war against Ukraine and a soaring inflation makes people feel unsafe and miserable.

The names of those three women at Bel Fries are all over the internet. One of them is actually from Manhattan. Must be one hell of a stripper or hooker.

I'm sure its been mentioned somewhere upthread, but ITS BECAUSE OF THE INTERNET!!!!!

People's lives have been absorbed in to cyberspace. Young people don't want homes to have to look after, even if they can afford them. They want condos so there is no maintenance; so they can be online all the time. They want instagram-worthy lifestyles.

Why do you Free Republic losers keep posting on our DL website? It’s not as if we invade your website with our comments!

Or is it because Free Republic censors each reply before it is actually posted. You freepers are such hypocrites! Your so-called righteous self-funded website actually pre-screens every comment BEFORE it is actually posted. Talk about censorship!! And you have the nerve to harass DL posters that actually honor free speech. You freepers are simply a disgrace to everyone. GFYS!

I just wonder what the Kardashianesque slob families rocking up to the airport with Joan Collins levels of luggage need 12 suitcases of tshirts and sweatpants for.

I'm over the weird recent trend of being asked to tip when I order a sandwich and stand at the counter and pay. What am I tipping for??

R129 ?????? WTF you are either a bot or you are sick.

R149 So they don't spit in your sandwich.

Yes OP, the trend is disturbing, and it quite frankly stinks. The vast majority are unsuitable, unwashed, unvaccinated, uncircumcised, unbaptised, unrepentant, unchristian, unseemly, unworthy, ungentlemanly, ungrammatical, undignified, unrefined, and unbecoming. We're in very dark times.

Fuck you, troll.^^^

R153 Your sarcasm detector is broken.

Ok...I had an incident yesterday, not a terrible one, but I should have handled it differently. I was food shopping in a small market. When I was ready to checkout, there was an opening behind a woman checking out..got behind her and started putting my items on the table..or whatever you call it..lol. I didn't see a woman standing far back, who was really next in line. I noticed her and said, "Are you in line? I'm sorry...I didn't see you. I don't mean to cut in." She said.."It's ok. Go ahead." She was very nice. I went ahead with the checkout, but said again.."I'm very sorry." She nodded, like it was fine. Anyway....thinking back, I should have put my items back in the cart (not many..a quick stop), and went back behind her. I know if someone did that to me, I would be peeved and a little bitchy. I felt bad and somewhat embarrassed afterward. I don't always pay attention and am in my own world...which I'm a bit guilty of assholery.

The neighborhood thinks I’m trashy and no-good.

It's scary times now..politically, the pandemic and the economy. We are more divided and angrier...anger brings on depression...or it's the other way around. I think people are very wary of the future, especially in the US.

How did Springer come into such prominence, must have had a radio show? I thought he was the mayor of Cincinnati once?

For the record, walk the black folks in my neighborhood are the cleanest nicest dressed people around. Actually we have a diverse community, many Asians and gay folks too. The only trainers we see is the occasional crackhead outside.

What is shocking to me is when someone has no reference for decency like they don’t even understand the concept. If you push a little, you will see that they have never even though about things that way.

It’s as if decency is only something in the movies to them not something that “real life” people do.

They don’t even understand the concept of caring oneself with dignity and treating others how they want to be treated.

We sort of make our own worlds. You have to put out what you want back.

Noting is real to a huge set of the population now. Everything is synthesized and mimicking and fake.

but there are real consequences but the dots aren’t connecting.

You mean like three quarters of the population hunched over their phones ignoring others living in a simulated reality? What could possibly go wrong.

R160, R161, R162, you'd think that people would learn empathy just from being alive and having the door shut in their face literally and figuratively. When I picture this, I just see dendrites shrinking instead of making all the connections. Just the reverse of what we're supposed to naturally strive for.

Whatever happened to class?

Money can’t buy it, r164. But you CAN buy my hit single on iTunes!

femcels and incels.

educcational videos being removed from classes...

and the creation of Elmo/Caillou,

which signified the break in edutainment from teaching basic education and life skills to "teaching" empathy and causing a concerning lack of it.

trigger warning: cultural microaggressions

I saw a bunch of out of shape people jogging today. Maybe everyone is trying to get it together now. But they all need to save their faces and wash their hair.

Yes R170 because you saw the overweight folks jogging, everyone is trying to get it together now.

One of the main problems with this thread comes from the use of "everyone". Distorted thinking like this is a big part of the problem. If we can avoid using superlatives like this in our thoughts, speech and writing, we will get likely stop exaggerating other things.

R167 "Mickey Taylor thinks politeness is all that grownups think about. His lack of courtesy (and his youth) doesn't keep him from being elected President of the United States. Will a near riot in the Oval Office convince him to reconsider his policy on good manners?"

Donald Trump??

I cussed out a lady at the grocery store today. Usually I would have felt guilty but she was asking for it. She was completely stunned into silence because I was exactly right.

She let her terrible kids run amok and make a huge scene in the store and she never even looked up from her phone. I lost it.

It feels so good. But I’m just not going to go out in public for a while. I can’t take it.

“Madam, please control your children!”

It's called poverty and class warfare. The wealthy elite minority basically passed every law possible to keep the poor poor and the middle-class has been shrinking as a result. Now we live in a stressful society dealing with low-paying jobs, incompetent workplaces, greedy corporations that are trying to dodge taxes, underfunding of schools and public utilities, decline of quality public education, people are going bankrupt trying to pay medical bills, mental illness has been growing and it's still undertreated and ignored due to lack of good healthcare, Trump and the pandemic brought the ugliness out in everybody and now the recession is going to make things worse. That's not even getting into the damage climate change is going to cause and the possible WW3.

TL;DR, it's not getting better and we haven't seen the worst of it yet.

I love the racists in this thread. "Whiteness" includes the poor people in Appalachia, trailer parks and all those homeless junkies out in LA and NYC. Whiteness includes those trashy rich folk like The Kardashians, Hiltons, Trump and Real Housewives. There's no monopoly on good manners. And most upper-class are rude to lower-class everywhere. Only reserving politeness towards one another. In fact it was the lower-class that had to mimic upper-class mannerisms and had no choice but to be polite to the rich to avoid severe punishment. Today, it's not legal to murder a peasant, servant or slave anymore.

Now, what occurred in American society was the result of the American Dream propaganda where every person even the poorest guy in town is deluded into thinking they are really going to be rich and deserve respect. Think about the fact every child to told growing up "You Can Be President one day!" And it was the Boomers who started that crap because it was an extension of their own personal narcissism and lack of accountability. The lack of "class" in America is due to the hyper-individualistic values that our society prizes. Everyone is encouraged to be selfish and narcissistic and distrustful of others. And it creates a feedback loop where nobody trusts each other or sees themselves as part of a community. So there's no incentive to be kind or nice unless you want to be.

People were more polite back when people were still family-oriented, valued their community and had strong connections to the land. Those days are long gone thanks to free-market unregulated capitalism and the atomization of technology which occurred with TV and got worse with the internet and smartphones and social media.

What's interesting is that people old enough to remember earlier times, say the 1960s on, and who are most qualified to comment on the changes they've witnessed (cultural) don't bother to speak up and discuss these things openly. They know better because they'll be shouted down with "grandpa" "eldergay" "boomer" "fascist" "nazi" "moron" and worse. People are on their personal road to hell and won't be dissuaded or have their heads turned. It's war against all, including thoughts themselves. There is no open-mindedness, only hyper-vigilance for personal affront. Trying times have formerly brought people together - we know this from history - but now we're being told it's the opposite: Covid is to blame for everything, or it's the Left, the Right, etc, etc. Clearly there is something much deeper going on, some kind of intense personal conflict. And rather than problem solve, people are medicating.

R177 (and anyone else who can "remember earlier times"), we're often told that 'there were no Good Old Days' (and of course assuming that the GOD, if there were any at all, weren't good for everyone), what is different? I'm not trying to provoke anything but I seldom get a chance to have a reasoned conversation with older people about this --partly for the reasons you gave and partly because people are less articulate than a lot of you, at least your written words.

I remember the '90s. People still gave a damn but it seemed like it was starting to fray a bit. I worked at Target as a teenager and if someone couldn't find something, I always walked them to it rather than tell them where I guessed it was. It wasn't unheard of but older people really appreciated it to the point I had a feeling that not everyone did it, although were supposed to. Now I ask where something is and they act all put out, and then they say they don't carry it, and as they walk away I spot the thing I just asked them about.

I don't know, I just remember the thing at Target because -- if you have a job, and you're at your job, why not just do your job? The end of your shift doesn't come any sooner if you don't work than if you do. What's the point?

I'm guilty of simplistic thinking. I tend to blame the Internet for everything lately. In my mind, all roads point to it for so many of our problems. I remember the times before it. All the big events in the last 20 years or so -- terrorism, 9/11, the wars, the political and social divides, Balkanization of thought, Trumpism, 24/7 news cycles, etc, has had the Internet as its matrix. Can someone explain why I might be wrong thinking this?

signs point to it*

I think it's best to not point to one thing when assessing blame for a systemic issue like this.

I think about twenty different things have been mentioned here which are all just as valid an explanation as "the internet.".

It's typically a combination of factors ultimately.

I hear you, OP.

I DREAD leaving my house each day because I will have to deal with non-stop rudeness and nonsense all day. People are so rude and so inflexible nowadays, not to mention territorial. They put their feet up on subway seats and you ask them nicely to remove them, you get indignation in return. You walk down the street on a sidewalk and you have to ask people three times to move or say excuse me a number of times when they are blocking the way. I refuse to walk around. It's a sidewalk.

People are either looking for a fight or completely oblivious to anything around them.

I used to sit and watch people in the park and all types of enchanting people would walk by and you could find something charming about most anyone who would walk by but everyone seems like a hopeless zombie. Even the would be cleaner cut set looks tired and puffy eyed with a 5 o’clock shadow.

Scoping for hotties now is like searching for a unicorn.

There's nothing wrong with calling out trashy behavior. Why should better people, yep I said better people, have to sit back and tolerate rudeness and unhealthy public spaces.

Lowering standards for equitable outcomes…

There is somebody in another thread threatening to murder someone or knows about someone who is about to be murdered. Some kind of thread involving “stay tuned” and the mention of guns.

What is the world coming to? Everyone is just going to skip over a post like that?

Smh.

*kind of threat

OP, you should look to yourself. Your third sentence marks you as a potty-mouth.

Are we just not going to talk about the murder post?

R190 We realise that 30% of DL are charming eldergays and 20% are raving millennial lunatics which it's best to ignore.

Yikes.

If anything happens, the murder guy did it. Just saying.

30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii[a] and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

All well and good but you shouldn’t enable disfunction.

*dysfunction

Absolutely, but I'm just saying- we're all shitbirds, and we've been shitbirds since Jesus. Nothing new.

I try to keep my shittiness here.

Good point.

Well, R197, it's very unattractive. In fact, it's repulsive.

I don’t think we always lived up to it as a society but we tried. We strived. And I guess I’m just stuck in that mode. I fell like you have to do the stuff that’s in your control, in your backyard, and if everyone does that it makes for a much better place to live. Nobody is perfect. But you have to leave room for the shitstorms. You have to clean your place for now for when the busy week comes and you can’t get to it. You have to stay in somewhat decent shape in case you bust a knee and can’t move for 3 months. You have to be nice to your neighbor because one day you will need them.

There are practical reasons to have some morals and respect and dignity. Not just spiritual ones.

R144 may be on to something. There is and always has been, of course, trashy people ANYWAY, but the increase in amount and level of trashiness might be the natural result of everything R144 is talking about. I don't think many people have really acknowledged what a mind fuck the peak Covid years were or give themselves or anyone else enough credit for simply getting through it. And certainly not enough people have ever thought of it as something they need help in overcoming. Part of it is denial, part of it ignorance, and part of it is actually humility. Covid life happened to everyone so no one who dealt with it is special. And people don't generally think of the PTSD or other mental health effects caused by Covid as they would the same in regards to other traumas.

I tell you what it does feel like a mass ptsd type macro thing is going on because everyone is one edge and ready to blow a gasket.

It’s too much stress.

The hedge funds have squeezed every once of enjoyment (inefficiencies) out of our lives.

R50 amen.

I dont blame the internet because its just a tool. If you learn to use it to enhance your self, your awareness, it is irreplaceable. If you use it to hate, it can be corrosive. You learn that things, life, reality can really be shitty whereas before in our innocence, we held out hope for good things. The internet has pulled back the curtain but like life itself, it’s what you choose to make of it.

There, ‘splained some things fer ya!

It’s the American Dream L - I - E!! that if you do the right things, take the proper steps, you’ll get a good job, get married, buy a house have 2 cats in the yard, a pet dog and have 2 kids. Now, you cant afford college, the crappy job you get after is not enough to live on, much less pay off your student loan. Then no house anywhere is affordable so live with your parents until youre 40 - if you are lucky to have a family house. Then you have no health insurance, so dont get sick. You cant afford gas to get to your job and get stuck in two hours of traffic. You need 3 jobs so you’ll never be home in the first place and can only sleep in your house…that you cant afford in the first place.

Profanity in everyday conversation. You hear people talking and every other word is f***. Rich or poor, it just sounds bad.

Smoking. Pot smoking. Tobacco seems to have no end, despite the cost.

This thread inspires me. I was just thinking the same thing OP did. I'm going to work harder on my own flaws. Hopefully, it will have a ripple effect.

Everybody keeps telling themselves the job is crappy and beneath them and the people they wait on are jerks.

There is no more pride in doing one's job for the sake of self dignity and the common good.

Of course, wages that don't keep up with the cost of living greatly contribute to the sense of futility and decrease in morale.

It's all Hillary's fault! Or Obama. Or something like that. I forget.

What's interesting, is that today we feel as a society, we've made considerable strides as far as how we all relate to each other and get along, meanwhile there has been a corsening of society in general. (supposedly).

Comparecontrast this with the "good" old days where people are remembered as being more refined, yet there were many social ills and lack of understanding. Marginalizations.

Will we ever have the best of both worlds?

There are no classy people. People with class are just people who fake being decent in front of others. Now people just stop faking.

R201. EXACTLY! We’ve been put through A LOT the past 6years!. From 2016 its been relentless: 4 fucking years of Dump’s reign of terror (that is still visited on us 24/7, thanks to the media)’ then a deadly pandemic that wipes out millions which didn’t happen since the Spanish flu (100 years ago), an unprovoked war in Ukraine and it’s unfathomable carnage that we are exposed to 24/7 thanks to the media. Record inflation, price gouging, a non-functional, couldn't even care less government. No justice, rampant lawlessness and unaccountability world wide. Mass shooting everyday, climate disasters…no end in sight.

And here we are. It has a collective and cumulative effect on everyone. All things considered, it’s enough to be good for today.

The most obnoxious people are also the ones who are most active and visible on social media. The friendly and considerate people I know from work, etc. have very little online presence.

Op is sub zero class with delusions of grandeur

R[ 175], perfectly put.

R212 makes more sense than the majority of the posts here

You folks will never get out of your hate spiral if you don't stop generalizing about people.

I am scrubbing away the majority of my social media accounts except for DL. I play chess and sometimes comment on youtube, but that always feels like the pit on iniquity. Social media is much too addictive and can feel like an amputation to get off of it, but it helps to keep your thinking clear IMO. Too many people constantly fighting their invisible enemies justifying hatred.

This is America after all. What do you expect?