Considering the civility-shortage in social interaction, during the past 10 days we've been focusing on airlines because they provide such a clear and ready example of the problem.
But it isn't just airlines.
It isn't just United Airline.
And it isn't only some police, or some security. It's throughout society -- not everyone, but a much larger number of people, who use gratuitous contempt as their "default setting."
And creating conflicts over nothing! One of the Commenters on the NYT article wrote something I've thought of often: "...Getting in an argument or a power struggle over nothing is perhaps the biggest time waster...." [emphasis mine]
I'm interested in exploring various theories about why this change occurred in American society, and what positive steps can be taken to do something about it.
Last week, after I read an article stating that O'Hare Airport security "police" want to be allowed to carry guns on the job, I was thinking, "Right -- then they could just 'pistol-whip' the passengers..." (I was trying to make a joke -- maybe a person should be sure and make that clear so they don't write it down and say, "Hey! Good idea!" ...)
...I would not even know that word, or the term, "pistol-whip" except that I read Tina Turner's autobiography (for the first time in 1993, I think) and someone in that book was describing Ike Turner's reputation in St. Louis back in the 1950s, and one of the nicknames he was known by was "Pistol-Whippin' Ike Turner."
(Note to 1950s: do not hire that person as airport "security" please.)
Good musician, though. One of many who originated from Clarksdale, Mississippi. ...
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