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My book copy belonged to a woman named Betty - "summer of 1946" - so says the inside cover. She must have had quite the social life because I found passages underlined in The Debutante and Balls and Dances chapters. Lucky girl!
e-Tiquette in Practice
I read the internet. A lot. Probably not as much as other people, but more than the people I talk to regularly. But anyway, when I do read the internet, I am often taken aback by the amount of name calling - and the atrocious spelling of the names called - that seems so common place. While on Twitter one day, I read hateful messages to Katy Perry because she expressed an opinion. I followed one of the hate-tweets back to the author's page and was flabbergasted by what I saw: My mother told me if you do not have anything nice to say then you should not say anything at all [proper spelling and grammar my correction].
And just today, I saw a photo on Facebook of a young, out-of-shape woman working out, and was stunned to see a negative comment by an older woman: Can she not put on a shirt [again, proper spelling and grammar my correction]? The photo's caption was something like: Like and show support! And this woman - and I imagine in the past 7 minutes since I last looked at the post, 400 more - felt the need to be...thoughtless.
By no means do I think that either Perry or this young woman are blameless; they are posting their personal business all over the globe. But their ill-planned commentary doesn't require a response - particularly one full of ugliness - since we know better. Don't we?
I've been wondering what happened to etiquette - particularly thoughtful manners that the internet seems to exclude:
In a chapter devoted entirely to Conversation, Post lists the first rule of conversing:
Ok, I'll say it. What happened to the polite lies of society? Who decided that being honest and "letting it all hang out" was a better way of living than begrudgingly holding doors for each other and writing thank-you notes for lame gifts received? Is this the way we want to live?
Sure, I post things on the internet - you are reading my blog, after all - but unless I talk to you daily, my business is not out there to be scrutinized. That's because (a) I am a tiny bit paranoid about this whole internet thing and (b) I don't share well. My inability to successfully share stems from my childhood - sans internet. Ask my mom; she'll tell you of the Barbie-related horror stories. So it is with little surprise that now, in the e-world, I am an e-turtle. Check my blog dashboard; there are 4 draft posts that I've started but won't publish. Check my Twitter feed; I post once every 3 months. Check my Facebook status; I write about Kanye West and Dunkin Donuts. I try to keep it PG not because my brain is PG but because I want people to enjoy my feed and not unsubscribe from it. We've all done it. Don't lie - you have unsubscribed from that friend's feed who was always asking you for Mob Wars or Farmville junk or that friend who posts those statuses that make you feel uncomfortable for reading them but also obligated to comment because other, lesser friends have acknowledged this pathetic request for attention.
Like anyone, I worry if people like or hate me. And I sincerely hope that there aren't any haters wasting their time on my silly, little blog. But in regard to being popular and in reflection of the previous thoughts:
So, I'll be going back to Post for, well, posts - on this blog, that is. If you have any etiquette-related questions, feel free to leave 'em in the comments and we'll see what Post says...
