Polite Company

[phantasm]

"Oh, honey, company!" Said the wife to her husband.

"Why, who' coming?"

"Oh, some friends, some friends of friends, some relatives, my mother, your moth--"

"Whoa, both our mothers are coming? Oh, we're all doomed!"

"Oh, honey, don't take that attitude. This is meant to be polite socializing, after all... why can't you make chit-chat and small talk like a normal human being?"



Polite Company. Civil Society.
Every civilization has a sense of propriety...
and it's stifling.

Socializing is all about what what conversation topics are banned:
no questions about God, religion, politics, policy, philosophy.
Who drew up this culinary menu? Who decided all these ideas and things are tasteless?
Why does the mention of them make these people jump so high they would be weightless beyond Earth's gravity?

Is life all levity and fashion, sweet tea and crumpets? Why can't we talk about the things that Really Matter?


I believe we can. The catch: you have to be willing to sit down next to someone who doesn't remind you of yourself.
Maybe then we can talk about nukes and war and whether we should be at war. And then how we should pick what objectives to pursue.
Repeal NAFTA? Go to Mars? Stamp out slavery worldwide? Recompense children of thalidomide? What shall we do, and how will we do it?

Maybe then the world will be a better place. Can we please cut the chit-chat and get to work?

[anirbas]

Fierce statement piece. Love it!!!

[anirbas]

I think whether instead of weather...?

[phantasm]

Gah, English is my mother tongue and I still get shit like this wrong. I can never quite remember which one is which. Corrected it now.


In my perfect world, there would be a hangout place you can go to talk about all manner of deep topics with whoever you meet there.
While emotions may run high depending on the topic, after a while you'd get acclimated to the environment and even the hot-headed
would tend to be more rational, at least in the short-term. In Europe, at least historically, coffeehouses were just such a place.
No idea if that's still true in any sector of their society or not. For me, college was the only place I even began to feel safe
talking about deep issues with people. I just cannot bond over sports, NASCAR, and all manner of polite chit-chat. It's like giving me
popcorn when I've got a hankering for an Applebee's steak.

I miss college........