This morning I was walking the dog and met three different strangers in quick succession. Each one I greeted with a cheery, “Good Morning”. And yet not one, I repeat, not one, replied. The first put his head down and quickened his pace. The second pretended not to hear. The third made a kind of grunting sound. But it didn’t even approximate to a “hello”, never mind a “Good Morning.”
Now that is not typical. Most people, here, are quite good at greeting strangers out on morning walks. But there is this new, creeping tendency towards lack of manners. I don’t claim to be the most gregarious type of person – but I can always muster a greeting to a fellow morning walker. I always find it strangely upsetting to be completely blanked in return.
Now I know I’m a bit of a political trouble-maker – but it’s all about constructive, good-humoured argument. I don’t wish anyone ill. Deep down I consider myself a relatively gentle person – my political rants are mostly bluff and bluster. And, therefore, it pains me to say that I do get rather a lot of rude and nasty comments on this site. Ironically, often these tirades are from people who claim to be Christian and who take exception to my secularist/Humanist stance.
As a result I have had to reinstate the comment moderation feature of this site. I’m happy to publish comments that differ from my opinion – that encourage debate. However, I am now deleting offensive, puerile or potentially libelous comments of a highly personal nature (particularly if they are directed at me).
But I’d also suggest that, as a society, we should try to return to one that is gracious and kind. We can disagree, we can be spirited in discussion, we can be strident. But we should also have manners. Because manners maketh the man.
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