this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2024
780 points (98.3% liked)

US Authoritarianism

816 readers
82 users here now

Hello, I am researching American crimes against humanity. . This space so far has been most strongly for memes, and that's fine.

There's other groups and you are welcome to add to them. USAuthoritarianism Linktree

See Also, my website. USAuthoritarianism.com be advised at time of writing it is basically just a donate link

Cool People: [email protected]

founded 8 months ago
MODERATORS
 

Read more about it here

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I've leaned away from being polite using the magic words and rituals of interaction they teach us in elementary school. And think about how upset it makes older generations when the young say things like "no problem." We do things for others because we want to, and when they show appreciation we let then know we did it out of a shared sense of humanity. And the older folks hate that. They prefer "you're welcome" because

  1. That's what they grew up with as the ritual
  2. The implied dynamic is "you are welcome to my help" which is very different from "I was happy to help" or "it was the least I could do" or "I did it out of a sense of shared humanity." They want to have their entitlement to our help affirmed.

So yeah. Don't be polite for the sake of being polite. Don't be rude for the sake of being rude. Be kind for the sake of a shared human experience. And tell people who don't participate in a revolution of empathy they can fuck right off

[–] I_Fart_Glitter 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I've been thrown the last year or so when I say "thank you" to someone doing their job (server, cashier, etc.) if they are younger Gen Z, they say "Of course!" with a kind of shocked look that makes me question if saying "thank you" was somehow inappropriate on my part and I feel like Grandpa Simpson. I'm 40.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

They're not used to people your age and older thanking them. For much as the older folks out there demand we say please and thank you, they don't say it to service workers because they don't see them as people. I know from my own experience being surrounded by service workers