This world lacks manners and sophistication

I prefer living in a time where being female, gay and not wealthy doesn't stop me from being seen as human.

 

No. Simply no. The only reason people think that is because only the upper and middle classes of the times are known. The whole idea is false, and all depends on individual behaviour, and to some extent, class. I know a great many polite modern people, and the letters and diaries of my great grandparents and aunts show that a century ago, people were just as rude. And more people now eat with proper dinnerware, whereas a century ago, many ate with their hands, if they had food in the first place.

 

Yes, I agree. I love watching films from the era prior to the 1950s. I also think people dressed really nice for photos back then.

 

I find that the relaxation of social rules increases our freedom and strips away layers of meaningless interaction. What is so much better about bone china and silver, and uncomfortable clothing and cancer-inducing innuendos? We're only taught to value these things, they have no inherent value. What really matters in this world is so far away from that. People, community, knowledge, these are important.

 

This. (minus the female part)

 

No. The "fine bone china" and whatnot was only for the wealthy, and usually white, social class. As someone who is black and gay, I strongly prefer living in the 21 century.

 

Men were men and women were women? Well thats nice. No room for someone like me I suppose. No room for any LGBT person really.

That isn't the point though. As others have said, that isn't representative of the times. That is representative of the rich, who were greatly outnumbered by the poor. And as I have already said, those things have no inherent value, and serve to devalue the quality of human contact.

Spare some thought for those of us who don't want to eat with our families. Thats the thing about those sorts of traditions. They weren't optional, those who didn't follow them faced social rejection.

 

Many families sit down and have dinner together right now. Mine does. How does it make us any less respectable if we're wearing comfortable modern clothes rather than tuxedoes? (We sure as hell can't afford to wear really nice clothes to meals, given how much it would cost to replace them if they got tomato sauce marks on them.)

 

i've moved out of my parents, but when i lived there we all still ate dinner together. i think a lot of families lack that these days and it's sad. so i agree with that part.

as far as people finishing school - i think that's a personal choice. obviously education is important but i know plenty of people who never went to college that are extremely wealthy. you choose the life you live, if people are happy being low-class then let them be. i just hate that the government (in the US anyway) provides food stamps and a million other benefits to lazy ass people....that's really my only complaint.

fine china, dresses and tuxedos? "ain't nobody got time for that!"

 

Well how can the poor afford fine china? And what would we want with it?

 

Well why should women have to do that? Who is to say what is proper? Who is to say the world isn't better off without over-inflated ideas of etiquette?

 

just women?
.......so men were born with proper etiquette and manners? LOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!

 

The World Was Always Awful: A Guide to World History for People who Romanticize the Past.

 

But what is wrong with that stuff? Certainly, the modern world isn't perfect, but it isn't imperfect because of a lack of bone china.