Etiquette – The Library

One of my pet peeves is manners. While I’ll be rude occasionally (obviously, everyone is or is perceived as being rude sometimes) it really annoys me when people seem to act in a way that takes no account of the other people in the world. I’ve been spending a lot of time in the library in UCD really (ah the joys of final year) and have seen this more than ever. There are people who take and make phone calls, who don’t mute their laptops, who chat away and who let their phones vibrate away on the table for hours. What annoys me the most, though, is the lack of etiquette that guys display in the toilet. On dear oh dear. I’m sorry, but I have to tell the truth. Guys can be absolutely disgusting. Really. This ranges from the seemingly innocent but ultimately unsanitary leaving-the-toilet-without-washing-his-hands (we all have to touch the door lads!) to the unbelievable but true pissing-all-over-the-seat-then-not-even-cleaning-up-after-himself. It’s disgusting. This is sober behaviour, by the future bankers, lawyers, engineers, scientists, psychologists, teachers, whatevers of the world. Oh dear me.

Rant over.

– Conor

 

A Musing About Something I Heard

I’ve been paying quite a bit of attention to the American presidential election recently, as it all heats up. And watching an episode of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, I had a moment of listening to Jon speak, and having what he says resonate deeply within me:

‘What he was really saying is: “I’ll make sure gay people can’t get married, and I’ll try and get Roe vs. Wade overturned.” Why can’t we have that conversation honestly like adults, and not pretend like we’re all talking this weird code language around each other?’

You could see him getting genuinely and visibly perplexed and angry as he continued speaking, and it reminded me of myself when I was having coffee with one of the other Erasmus students, Lisa, on Wednesday. We were talking about American politics, Irish politics, and in particular LGBT rights and climate change (my personal interests). I was getting incredibly worked up about the fact that regardless of how much time and effort you put into a campaign to achieve a change, it can all be crushed in a single moment.

Take, for example, Proposition 8 in California. In May of this year, the Californian Supreme Court overturned Proposition 22, meaning that marriage between individuals of the same sex was again legal or recognized by the state. Yay. Now, however, there is a movement to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry. Boo. When Californians are voting in the presidential elections, they will also be voting on this. Looking at the summary of opinion polls (again on Wikipedia), it would appear that the measure might be rejected.

But that’s not the point I wish to make. The point is that so much time and effort is spent campaigning, spreading the word, getting people involved, making issues public, legislating, getting proper legislation and enacting legislation (never mind finding a partner to share the fruits of your labour with!) that to see that it could all be swept aside by small groups of small-minded people spreading rumours, myths, propaganda and lies is incredibly disheartening.

Actually, that wasn’t the point I wanted to make either. The point I actually wanted to make was about the sheer amount of political unspeak that goes on, the wishy-washy nature of politics and the apparent desire that politicians have to appeal to all people at the same time. As Jon put it:

“Why can’t we just decide it on the issues? My feeling is they’re fearful that their real beliefs will not be appealing to the general electorate.”

Do you get me?

Photo owned by jaycross (cc) 

 

Anyway, I was fretting over how long I was spending on a different post (that I still haven’t finished) and my trusted confidante advised me to use this as an outlet, which I am now doing. That post will be finished over the next few days, as a post-Late Late Show analysis. Wow, this has ended up as a long post.

 

As a total aside, Lisa and I have started another blog, aimed at alleviating any recession-related worries. It’s called DON’T PANIC, and is in stores now.