Of Rudeness and Fake Politeness

[Valin]

The Middle East and Beyond:

Adam Garfinkle

10/18/12

 

A few years ago Lynne Truss published a book called Talk to the Hand. Coming on the heels of her smash hit, Eats, Shoots & Leaves, this book was intended as an educated rant about the appalling rudeness of contemporary Western cultures. In the course of her rant she necessarily struggled with the reasons for what has befallen us in the space of only a generation or two. Truss characteristically affixes a sharp point to her rants and surrounds them with what for lack of a better term might be called knowledge. In short, she produces stilettos of informed social criticism and, with the best of good, rollicking humor, sticks them in very hard.

 

(Snip)

 

If you want the full treatment, read Talk to the Hand. But a bare-bones summary of her observation on this point can be contained in a single intriguing question: Are the conventions of politeness meant to bring us closer to others, or to keep them at a distance?

 

I would like to propose at this point that you go get a comforting beverage of your choice, sit and ponder the question as you sip, and come back to this text in an hour or so. But I know very few of you will do that, so here’s the answer: both.

 

(Snip)