Currently listening to: “Shame Is On Your Side” – Terror Bird
It’s time for a rant on manners, folks.
I was going to write about the Michael Ignatieff townhall meeting (with emphasis on the running themes of extended metaphor usage) and the rather heartening level of student engagement. Let it be noted that though all the aforementioned things are of great importance, I feel it much more pressing to address the issue of manners and basic social etiquette, both of which have been demonstrated to be sorely lacking. Let us break it down ever so slightly.
Acceptable: Voicing of opinions in a mature, preferably eloquent, manner. Presumably, educated debate/discussion ensues.
Unacceptable: Voicing of opinions by engaging in disruptive public behaviour involving (but not limited to) a refusal to listen to the guest speaker, shouting (!), thus obstructing fellow audience members from listening and engaging in discussion. All in all a show of general impertinence et cetera.
Greenpeace members involved with the shenanigans at the Ignatieff event, shame on you. As one deeply concerned about environmental policy and climate change issues, I am thoroughly embarrassed by the method by which these views were aired. My own views on tar sands not withstanding, the level of immaturity and rudeness present was staggering. Such boorishness does not lend itself to the open presentation and exchange of ideas, and indeed, has no place in a university.
If I may direct any interested readers to a glorious book on where etiquette and manners have gone in our supposedly enlightened time, Lynne Truss has a splendid treatise on said subject – Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of the World Today, or Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt the Door.
