Manners Suck

Have you ever gone out with some snobby assed person, or perhaps your parents when you were younger, and done something that gets chided as "bad manners?" I'm talkin like, eating with the wrong fork or spoon, drinking out of the wrong glass initially, putting your napkin in the wrong spot, or talking too loud to someone too far down the table. And your mother, or your snobby assed friend, loudly asserts that what you did is "not good manners" and you should make it a practice of never doing it again. And part of you understands that good table manners don't really cost anything and you're glad you know about them, but the other part of you wants to drop kick the person that brought your gaffe to your attention.

And see, here's why manners suck. Manners, much like its predecessor Jewish Law, seems to have a bunch of arbitrary rules that, to the casual observer, really don't mean anything and should be abolished. To their credit, at one time these "laws" were put in place to help people avoid doing bad, and aide them in doing good. But, as time went on, the focus became less and less on doing good and avoiding bad, and more and more on just the laws themselves. The rules, in essence, became the end goal. You either have your napkin in the right spot, use the right silverware, drink from the correct glass, or you don't, with no regard to how or why these became "manners" to being with. And that's just not right. Manners became what they are because when they were invented, they were normative behaviors that allowed every person at a dinner table to enjoy the experience the most. So when I don't have my napkin in the right spot but it's not affecting anyone, shut the fuck up.

Now, I do make an exception, and that is to real little kids who need to learn some basic stuff like not throwing food and not immediately spitting it back up (damn 6-month-olds). But to my grown assed self, stop.

Things I don't give a shit about