NOTICE - THIS POST IS PURELY OPINION AND CONJECTURE BASED ON VERY LITTLE EVIDENCE
This local headline from the Washington Post caught my attention:
Man Doused With Liquid, Set on Fire in NW Bar
The reason I noticed is because of a trend that I have no evidence for... it's just a feeling, but it seems to me that crimes like this - extreme spur of the moment retaliation for a real or imagined slight - are becoming more common.
I think it's frustration at the decline of civilized behavior in general. People seem more likely to react in extreme ways to things that would not have bothered them before. One other example, and I don't have a link for it, is the video of a young man who went to his car to get a gun and shoot another man at a convenience store, apparently because the second man reached over the first's shoulder to get the items already purchased from the convenience store counter. An unfortunate incident all the way around, but particularly so for the young man bent on revenge – the second man was an off-duty police officer and was armed.
I know I often find myself tempted to challenge (shout at) people around me who I perceive as engaging in impolite behavior, thus becoming impolite myself and perpetuating the decline of civilized society. On the other hand, if no one points out the impolite behavior, how will it ever be corrected?
More later,
Russ
No comments:
Post a Comment