Civility

Lis and I went to see ‘War of the Worlds’ this evening. Loved the movie. Nice epic feel to it. One of my top three apocalypses (the others being ‘Road Warrior’ apocalypse and Zombie films). As for a review of the film itself I’ll defer to Salvius. This blogpost is about the guy who stepped in three fourths of the way through the film…

So, this guy sneaks into the movie about three fourths of the way through the film and sits a few rows behind Lis and 3XHAR. This does not particularly bug 3XHAR because in his youth I’m sure 3XHAR did something similar. Guy then begins to munch loudly on popcorn. Now, if you’ve seen the film you’ll realize that for 3XHAR to hear Guy munching Guy must be munching pretty loudly. The movie is loud, with many scary noises, things blowing up, screaming, etc. Anyway, what 3XHAR hears is: stuff blowing up, munch, munch, munch, screaming, munch, munch. Very Homer Simpson. Still, I am a man of peace and Guy has not hit 3XHAR’s critical mass for a Civility Correction.

Then Guy’s cell phone rings. And not just rings, it plays a little song. Loudly.

When critical mass for a Civility Correction is reached things proceed very rapidly. I whipped out of my chair, took two giant strides to Guy, put my face about four or six inches from his face (all I could see in the theater were these two big fried-egg eyes) and said, “Please, do not let me hear that again.” I said it sternly. I then returned to my seat.

Guy left a few minutes later. Probably had to take another call.

Now, there are those who say people are less civil than some nebulous time in the past. 3XHAR does not believe this is true. I think there have always been uncivil folk. I believe that new gadgets just allow new and novel ways to express your incivility.

I also believe that if left unchecked, people who are prone to incivility may be obtuse enough to not even know they are acting inappropriately. Hence, the need for Civility Corrections.