Library Etiquette (revisited)
Boundaries---the concept of putting the right thing in the right place at the right time.
It's about a wildlife refugee park putting physical barriers between the giraffes, zebras, wildebeest and the lions, tigers, crocodiles.
But human society eschews this kind of wisdom.
It goes by the inane mantra of "We must learn to get along with one another". Which is shorthand for "No matter how much the other guy annoys you, harasses you, gets in your way or messes with you, don't ever respond, react, or say anything harsh to them---not even defensively. Just suffer in silence and endure it all. Be a 'respectful' little trooper".
Should you do otherwise, and that other person "takes offense" at whatever you do or say, you're done for. Finished!!!
In this society it's a criminal act to do or say anything to "offend" another. Whenever another person finds anything you do or say "offensive" they automatically acquire the authority of a Federal Marshal and have full license to penalize or destroy you as they see fit.
And the proper authorities are obliged to unconditionally take sides with them. Especially if there are two or more of them and only one of you.
I'm at the library reading an interesting blog post. Or trying to anyway.
And two clueless domineering twits, both grown men in their 30s who are apparently "the new owners of this property and everything's going to be done their way from here on in", are having a loud conversation while standing right behind me. And it goes on and on and on and on unceasingly. And I wait, hoping they'll head on out real soon. But, more than an hour later, they're still at it (not once do either one of them finally lose their breath and pass out).
And I don't dare turn around and ask them "Uhhhh ....Hey, uhhhh....There's a STARBUCKS a few blocks down the street if you two MUST insist on having a long-winded dialogue. This is the library and some of us are trying to read. It's not really the appropriate place for your type of behavior".
God knows, they're liable to go ballistic on me, tell me "Go fuck yourself!", attracting the attention of one of those useless lame-headed library staff members.
The dumbass staff member, then, will ask "What's the problem here?" in the usual whiney yuppie fashion, to which those two are most likely to ramble off hysterically and histrionically all sorts of hyperbole defamatory character-assassinations and malicious allegations about me.
The staff member, himself/herself an authority figure, would probably render a harsh extortive reprimand for my "disruptive" and "harassive" behavior.
Or, even worse, ask me to leave or even have me permanently banished form the library itself.
But that's the problem with being out anywhere in public anyway. That most people aren't exactly the most gracious and well-bred specimens to run across.
Boundaries---the concept of putting the right thing in the right place at the right time.
It's about a wildlife refugee park putting physical barriers between the giraffes, zebras, wildebeest and the lions, tigers, crocodiles.
But human society eschews this kind of wisdom.
It goes by the inane mantra of "We must learn to get along with one another". Which is shorthand for "No matter how much the other guy annoys you, harasses you, gets in your way or messes with you, don't ever respond, react, or say anything harsh to them---not even defensively. Just suffer in silence and endure it all. Be a 'respectful' little trooper".
Should you do otherwise, and that other person "takes offense" at whatever you do or say, you're done for. Finished!!!
In this society it's a criminal act to do or say anything to "offend" another. Whenever another person finds anything you do or say "offensive" they automatically acquire the authority of a Federal Marshal and have full license to penalize or destroy you as they see fit.
And the proper authorities are obliged to unconditionally take sides with them. Especially if there are two or more of them and only one of you.
I'm at the library reading an interesting blog post. Or trying to anyway.
And two clueless domineering twits, both grown men in their 30s who are apparently "the new owners of this property and everything's going to be done their way from here on in", are having a loud conversation while standing right behind me. And it goes on and on and on and on unceasingly. And I wait, hoping they'll head on out real soon. But, more than an hour later, they're still at it (not once do either one of them finally lose their breath and pass out).
And I don't dare turn around and ask them "Uhhhh ....Hey, uhhhh....There's a STARBUCKS a few blocks down the street if you two MUST insist on having a long-winded dialogue. This is the library and some of us are trying to read. It's not really the appropriate place for your type of behavior".
God knows, they're liable to go ballistic on me, tell me "Go fuck yourself!", attracting the attention of one of those useless lame-headed library staff members.
The dumbass staff member, then, will ask "What's the problem here?" in the usual whiney yuppie fashion, to which those two are most likely to ramble off hysterically and histrionically all sorts of hyperbole defamatory character-assassinations and malicious allegations about me.
The staff member, himself/herself an authority figure, would probably render a harsh extortive reprimand for my "disruptive" and "harassive" behavior.
Or, even worse, ask me to leave or even have me permanently banished form the library itself.
But that's the problem with being out anywhere in public anyway. That most people aren't exactly the most gracious and well-bred specimens to run across.
I had a similar thing happen to me on a plane journey back to the UK. The women next to me knew the guy in the seat in front of her so they spent the whole journey with him standing up and talking loudly to her. For the first time ever I was praying for turbulence, so he'd have to shut up and sit back down in his seat.
ReplyDelete