My mom and I have had numerous conversations about how, since the pandemic, the majority of people seem to be bloody miserable. I will argue until I’m blue in the face that the COVID-19 pandemic did little more than encourage us to become the most selfish and entitled version of ourselves possible, stemming originally from a false idea that in order to best protect ourselves, we need to be selfish, which, in turn, has encouraged many of us to act like assholes in all facets of life.
My mom is an avid reader of a newspaper known as The Epoch Times, and she is quite fond of a journalist named Jeffrey Tucker. He often submits opinion pieces to the publication, and she recently showed me an article he wrote about why it’s never been more important to hold people accountable when it comes to them being rude and entitled.
His entire article was about how, in the years following the pandemic, nastiness and rudeness seem to reign supreme, and both certainly outweigh kindness in a general sense in the context of interacting with people in both a public and personal sense. He mentioned how road rage has never been worse and argues that people are now relying on their vehicles to exemplify their own anger and frustration with the world, and I’m inclined to agree. I can’t recall seeing so many road rage incidents as I have over the past few years.
The main point of his article was about how we need to start holding people accountable when it comes to disrespect, entitlement, and nastiness. I believe part of this issue is linked to a general fear of calling people out on their bullshit when we experience it, and this fear is why this problem has progressed to the level it has. If no one is holding assholes accountable for their behaviour, it isn’t likely they’re going to modify themselves anytime soon.
Just be nice. It really isn’t that damn hard.
Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash
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