Socially Unacceptable
A whole new genre of rudeness
CHARLIE GILLIS
Contemporary life has wrought a whole new genre of rudeness. If we’re going to curb incivility, why not start with these modern boors:
THUMB PEOPLE (a.k.a. BlackBerry-heads) The hand-held devices are pretty cool. The owners who halt conversations over dinner to retrieve meaningless e-mails are not.
REAL-TIME FILM CRITICS Theatre chatter is worse than ever, as DVD-renting movie buffs treat cinemas like home theatres. Nothing worse than listening to some wannabe Roger Ebert while the movie’s actually rolling.
E-TARDS Detached medium emboldens users to throw friends on messages lists without permission, or humiliate colleagues in group e-mails. Whatever happened to e-mail etiquette?
POTHEADS Plans to decriminalize: good. Adults who view this as a licence to smoke up before their kids’ soccer games: pathetic.
NUMBER-ONERS When did the shaken fist give way to the “long finger” on the nation’s highways? Trudeau did it. So did Ralph Klein. Now it seems everyone is flipping the bird.
TATTOO VICTIMS Clearly a matter of taste, but sometimes a painting is only as good as its canvas. If in doubt, please cover up.
CELL-HEADS Listening to one-sided conversations was bad enough in the '80s; now the whole thing starts with the theme to Gilligan’s Island.
V.I.P. PARKERS Maybe you have a Lexus. Maybe you can afford endless fines. But parking across three spaces – or with two wheels on the sidewalk – gives the number-oners all the justification they need.
Accurate.