Civil Disobedience

09/19/2009 Human Observations
The measure of change within the socio-politico-economic structure is directly correlated with the sudden appearance of not just civil unrest, but actual civil disobedience. The shift from common courtesy and civility to rudeness and blatant disrespect is a reflection of what has become an acceptable rise in socially unacceptable behavior. The two high profile demonstrations of this abandon of civility involve a tennis champion and a singer. In one case, a “foot fault” call by an official added to the frustration of a bad day at the office for a tennis player. She took out her frustration on the official, in essence, threatening the official so effectively as to put a genuine fear into the heart of that official. It’s what the player determined to accomplish, and she was successful. The official ran for help as the player approached her angrily a second time. The other case involved a male singer approaching the current nationally marketed female Country singer on stage, who had just won an award for best music video. His words pointed out that while the winning video may have had merit, a different singer’s video that did not win, was one of the “best of all time”, ruining the moment of the winner. The two outbursts reflect a very important aspect of the current social climate: incompetence will be pointed out, and not just accepted because the incompetent were promoted into their current positions of authority. While the two offenders could have found more civil venues to express their discontent, the fact remains that the errors that were made were just as unacceptable as the outbursts generated by those errors. In short, when you mess up it will cause an effect. Be prepared for that effect, because, in all likelihood, it will not be pleasant. What would prevent this social lack of civility? The acquiring and exercise of competence.