Parker 1

Angelica Parker
Dr. Christopher McBride
English 370
1 October 2008
Whatever You Want

Certainly, manypeople can relate to the feeling of getting rude customer service when

attempting to return an item at a store. I recently went to a local Wal-Mart store in attempt to

return an item that I no longer wanted. Upon arrival, I was not greeted, asked to wait, nor treated

respectfully. This is only one of the many circumstances I have been in where I personally was

treated rudely. In Anita Creamer’s essay, “We’re an Unmannerly Bunch, Survey Says,” Creamer

claims that Americans have become ruder and I strongly agree with her position.

Society in general has essentially lost their manners in everyday public places. One

common impolite practice is people talking on cell phones or blue tooth devices while standing

in line. Often people will chat away on obnoxious conversations filled with foul language and

other annoying personal conversations. These conversations are rude because the people

chatting away on their phones and blue tooth devices are extremely inconsiderate.

Inconsiderable people such as those are ultimately self-centered, because they are only

considering themselves and not others.

In addition, another example of American society having lost their manners is how

neighbors today relate with one another. My next door neighbor often blasts loud music and

parks his vehicles in my parking area in front of my house. These actions are ill mannered

compared to how neighbors would relate in past times. Yet, society today cares for them alone as

they continue to forget manners. This growing forgetfulness is birthed from a “whatever”

mentality in American culture today.

 Parker 2

Obnoxious chatty cell phone conversations and rude neighbors are only two results of

America’s loss of manners. Two causes in essence have brought American society to produce

these rude results. Firstly, Americans have become extremely self-centered throughout the years.

It is this quality of self-centeredness in culture today that causes Americans to be inconsiderate

of others. As a result, Americans act rudely because they are only thinking of themselves. Self-

centered inconsideration ultimately comes from the “whatever” mentality the media is

feedingAmericans, called Post Modernism. Post Modernism says that whatever works for you

may not work for another person, but that is okay because that person can do whatever he or she

wants as well.

Secondly, Americans have lost their solid Biblical values established by the Bible and

implemented by the Founding Fathers of America. This is a direct result of Post Modernism and

the media feeding Americans this mentality. Post Modernism is the exact opposite of the Bible

that teaches humility and only one way to the Father, instead of whatever pleases each person.

Moreover, rudeness and loss of manners is also the direct result of the desensitization of

American minds by Post Modernism in the media.

Rude customer service, cell phone or blue tooth usage, and neighbor relations are all

common everyday examples of rudeness and loss of manners in Americas. The causes of these

examples are essentially the Post Modernism and loss of Biblical values in culture today.

Americans act rudely because they are being taught to be inconsiderate of others. Is it possible

for society to regain manners and not be rude to others? Yes, there is always the possibility. Yet,

that change would require daily sacrifice of self and offending the “feelers” of people, and why

do that when people can just think whatever works for you and move on?