Bad Manners, Y'All - Decline in Southern Hospitality?
Okay y’all, I’ve lived in the Northeast and loved it. I enjoyed a “home away from home” in the South and loved it. I grew weary of the cold and snowy weather and so now I’m a permanent resident of the South. I can say with authority that I have found folks with good manners in both parts of the country. That being said, the South does have a reputation for good manners. Yes, ma’am, however things they are a changin’ some say. I’m not so sure. You decide.
You may have read of a court case recently filed in a Southern state concerning bad manners. Yes, it’s true. Gentlemen were unwilling to give up seats for the ladies, and for the record the ladies didn’t ask them to, it was the bartender’s idea. It seems tempers snapped and suddenly there’s a case for $3 million dollars in damages. Suffice it to say, the gentlemen didn’t wish to give up their seats. Was it rude to ask them? Were there racial bias issues involved? Was it just bad manners . . . not for me to say. However, there are folks who are feeling the culture in the South is not what it “used to be.”
“Manners are one of many things that are central to a Southerner’s identity, but they are not primary anymore. Things have eroded,” said Charles Reagan Wilson, a professor of history and Southern culture at the University of Mississippi. Have they now? Well, this writer – a Yankee transplant – is a bit displeased to report that among those who believe the culture of civility is fading fast are many who are convinced it’s “those damn Yankees.” May we look at this a little closer please? Thank you ma’am.
Yes, statistics do show that there’s been quite an influx of new residents to the South, although not entirely “Yanks.” This is also a time of much frustration expressed against those who hold political office, and we all know what a challenge the economy has caused for a much longer time than anyone believed or hoped. “There are just so many more complexities,” Professor Wilson said. “Manners and a code of civility can’t help you negotiate everything.”
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