What happened to etiquette?
So I haven't been posting as often as I should be ...but I have an excuse. We adopted a 6 month old puppy, a Shih Tzu to be exact. She's adorable and the whole family is thrilled with her - she just has to get this housebreaking thing down.So, this past weekend had two etiquette faux-pas happen. My boyfriend and I went to a lovely rooftop picnic at a friend's in Park Slope. The little gathering also included the host, her boyfriend, and a girl that I don't know that well, but is at most of the gatherings attended by our friends. The food was fantastic, the day was beautiful and the conversation was fun. But every once in a while the girl that I don't know that well would throw out some "republicans suck" sort of comments. After a couple of hours, she decided to bring up the war (faux-pas # 1). At which point, my boyfriend lost his temper(faux-pas #2) and snapped at her.
Now, here is my question....at what point did we lose that unspoken etiquette rule of no politics or religion in polite conversation? I have been at several parties that I've seen people squirm over the discussion of money and quickly change topic but the discussion of politics always creeps in.
I don't want to hear other people's opinions - I have tons of source material that I can look over on various topics from people who ACTUALLY know what they are talking about. I don't want to be swayed by friends - most of the time they have the wrong information to begin with. And even if you did have tons of information and did years of research on a topic - people are passionate about their politics (and religion and sexuality) why would you want to possibly piss someone off who has just consumed four beers?
I'm not very political - I have my opinions and my own judgments. And I feel like everyone has the right to their own opinions BUT if you are at a party and you have no idea what the person's background/beliefs are that speaking to....you may not want to start talking politics.
Does anyone have any etiquette hell stories to share?
posted by Jin @ 12:12 PM
1 Comments:
I, for one, think it's our duty to bring up politics while in Park Slope. These people have their heads wedged so far up their bums precisely because they're yammering away in a vacuum and are never challenged. The Park Slope Reader, in fact, is running a three-part job leading up to the election working on the premise that there aren't ANY Bush supporters in the neighborhood. And I should point out that at a certain barbecue a while back, the liberals waited until all those strange blogger types left before jumping yours truly with their political talk.
Oh wait. You wanted etiquette stories ... See what happens?!?!
Post a Comment
<< Home