I guess I missed ANOTHER memo

When did the rules for getting along in polite society go out the window?

I’m all for freedom of expression, and I’m totally about living without the fucking government up my ass about every little thing. I think we have too damn many laws, and too much “running to mommy” in the form of people expecting to be able to legislate every action we take.

There was a time in this country when you didn’t have to have laws that defined each interaction you had with another person because simple common sense and general decency prevailed. Societal rules governing acceptable behavior were straight forward and easy to understand if you paid any attention at all.

Folks generally recognized that they in fact lived in a society, and that it wasn’t ok to talk through a movie or other performance in a theater. They pretty much understood that if they kept jabbing someone in the ribs with their knife-like elbows there was going to be a serious problem, so people didn’t do shit like that.  

I was at a performance last night where the dude next to me kept doing exactly that.

I ended up hearing the remainder of the performance out in the lobby, which suited me just fine. I hate crowds. This particular theater, while quaint and everything was also built for people whose general stature was smaller. 

I fit in the seat pretty well, but most folks didn’t, and the guy next to me was tall, lanky, and oblivious to the fact that he was so into my space that I really couldn’t enjoy the performance. 

Things got worse when I said excuse me after he’d poked me for the thousandth time in the ribs with his fucking elbow. He had to have realized what he was doing, he’d monopolized the entire armrest, then kept squirming and moving to the music. And every time he poked me I flinched and groaned. Why? It was because every flinch caused my back to spasm and my back is still really touchy. 

This fucker couldn’t care less that HIS enjoyment of the performance was fucking MY enjoyment of the performance up.  Sigh, it’s the times we live in. Society appears to be degrading at a fearsome pace.