I often feel like I should print a million t-shirts and bumper stickers that say: “BE NICE.” If I had the money, I’d do it and I’d stand on a busy street corner and hand them out.
Be nice and a better world will follow.
I don’t expect everyone to agree. I don’t even think having everyone agree is inherently a good thing. We need opposition. Controversy should be a positive development in politics and other areas of thought.
Phoenix sunset – Photo: Garry Armstrong
On the other hand, I believe civility would heal a lot of wounds. You don’t call people ugly names no matter what you believe because doing so is cruel, hurtful, and mean-spirited.
You don’t need a better reason. You don’t need “PC Police.” Keep a civil tongue in your head is a good enough reason.
I grew up in a household where we never, ever called anybody by any name that referred to their race or religion. This wasn’t only if someone of that race or religion was present. This was a general rule and applied 100% of the time, whether we were alone or in company. Nobody called names.
It was clearly and completely understood by everyone this was an absolute and rigid rule. No exceptions. Unless it was a literal quote and you were making a point about the speech, it was forbidden. Into my adulthood, I never heard anyone in my house — not kids or adults — racially or religiously insult anyone. Come to think of it, I didn’t hear it from any of my friends, either.
Sunset in the desert – Photo: Garry Armstrong
What anyone might have thought privately? I don’t know and I don’t care.
In our house, those words were never used. Garry says he was brought up the same way. Maybe if more parents refused to spout hateful words and made sure their kids didn’t use them either, the world would be a more civilized place for all of us.
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Categories: #Photography, Racism and Bigotry
HATRED LURKS 
ARE YOU A RACIST? 
BAD BEHAVIOR TRUMPS RACE, CREED AND GENDER – GARRY ARMSTRONG 
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
Being polite is the thin veneer of society that tends to keep the wheels going around more smoothly.
Leslie
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That was a better, simpler time though. I don’t know why it morphed into having to have someone TELL people the rules some of us grew up understanding. We didn’t have to be told. I’m sorry to say that I didn’t grow up in the same sort of household as you and Garry. Even at the foster home, there was a great deal of racially based hatred going on. However. Some of us (me for one) just KNEW that calling people those names and seeing the world as ‘them’ and ‘us’ was not something worthy of our time. Not worthy to be mentioned. I have to say it took working at a University to drive my finer inclinations home, because in that atmosphere there was NO division based on color or religion or any of that. I had carried a grudge against a certain race of people from my experiences at the foster home and I was finally able to lose it. I worked with people of that particular race and found them intelligent and kind and I knew then something that I’ve carried with me ever since: Allowing bigotry and hatred against another because of their race or color or religion only damages the hater. Hubby was of the same mind. His father (and his son, sadly) were/are bigots of the first water. Amazing.
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It is one of the reasons I always tried to raise Owen in racially mixed areas. I wanted him to know that it was perfectly fine to be friends with any kind of people, whether they looked (or acted) like you or not. Fortunately, Owen’s father agreed, even though he had his own particular prejudices. He didn’t believe in them. He just had them. AND he worked at a University. If nothing else, college (usually, most of the time) teaches you a higher understanding of acceptance.
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I do not recall any member of my family using any term that denigrated others while I was growing up. It wasn’t discussed, it was simply not done. Times and acceptable terms change… but being nice doesn’t.
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I think hate has to be introduced, injected, created. Garry and most of my friends were all brought up to never denigrate another human. It didn’t matter if they were rich, poor or whatever. I don’t think hate knows well-to-do from poverty. The biggest, best haters are NOT poor and they were NOT raised in crime-riddled streets. The big haters are mostly wealthy people who don’t give a damn about anyone but themselves.
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I never saw hatred of this kind as anything more than a waste of energy and a symptom of insecurity. The only things worth hating are the evils and injustices that require strong emotion to start the process of change.
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Yes. We should mention this to our so-called “leaders.”
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I doubt if they would listen…
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We never did either. Race/religion were totally off limits. Cursing wasn’t though, and it was fine to refer to someone as an “asshole” or a “fucking idiot” if we judged them as such. That’s normal now everywhere and it is making everything mean and ugly. It’s hard to stop once you’re in the habit, especially when you feel so righteous about the goodness of your “side.”
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Cursing is language and isn’t necessarily insulting. It may not be polite — depending on circumstances — but it isn’t a punch in the solar plexus either.
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Be nice. It shouldn’t be that hard. Treat others as you would like to be treated. We should not need a million rules about being PC to do that.
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No we really shouldn’t. It should be self-evident.
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Same here. Mum and dad had other problems and my surroundings in East London were always multi culti. Unfortunately it seems that the area now has many street crimes of stabbing, racial hatred etc. It is difficult to grow up in such an are and stay nice.
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I don’t know that it is any easier in a well-to-do suburb where hatred is considered perfectly correct. It’s up to parents to clamp down on this kind of thing.
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Totally agree with you on this one!
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Just in case we think parents can’t influence their kids, that’s how my son and his daughter were also raised, too. It worked on them, too.
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And for my son!
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Love the carved graffiti one, especially
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That is a place that sells hot dogs in Worcester. It was opened in 1921 and has NOT been remodeled (except probably the kitchen), but simply maintained. All that carved graffiti is from the people who come for the hot dogs. They also have the biggest neon sign in Massachusetts. Famous for that, if you are into neon signs. And hot dogs.
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I am into all three.
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Garry LOVES hot dogs. He could eat them every day. So when we feel we can find it (Worcester is a place where EVERYONE gets lost, even people who usually don’t), we go there and have a few. They are also very inexpensive. And that sign is something else.
https://teepee12.com/2018/01/22/100-years-of-hot-dogs-in-worcester/
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Have you ever had a Costco hot dog? One cooked in their food stand, I mean? They are great.
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No Costco within 50 miles of us, so no. I have often wished we had one. They sell eyeglasses cheap and I could use some!
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I drive 50 miles to one, usually when I need paper products.. and come home with a trunk full of other things as well.
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I went on a hot dog kick a few months ago.. So handy just to have on hand. I overdosed a bit but the yen will come back. Right now nothing tastes good. Lucky because I’m dieting.
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Not wanting food is always a plus when dieting. I tried dieting and nothing happened. I mean literally nothing. I weighed EXACTLY the same at the end of 6 weeks on a 1200 calorie diet as I had at the beginning. Probably because that’s about what I eat anyway, Kind of hard to cut down from that.
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