Facebook Can’t Reconcile Humanity’s Differences
But it could reconcile humanity to its differences.
“Good manners,” according to the very best definition of good manners, “is making people feel more comfortable.”
No matter how fraught the situation, using this particular, near-universal definition of good manners can improve it. It means everything from politely offering someone a chair, to refraining from using profanity in certain company, to not offending others with our table manners, and a hundred other things besides.
Good manners, like most other “soft skills” is a competency which can be taught, learned and practiced. Honing good manners is important because most of would like to avoid being unintentionally rude. With a clear definition of good manners, rudeness has an inverse and equally clear standard.
Being rude is making people feel more uncomfortable.
The concept of “good manners” has gone slightly out of fashion in the modern era, to be replaced with concepts unlikely to make anyone feel more comfortable like “tone policing” and “privilege”. This is unfortunate, because treating other people with respect is more important than ever- as we meet more of them and are often insulated from the effects of our rudeness by at least two computer screens.