Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

Courtesy is when people try to reciprocate their own comfort by making other people comfortable. It's one of the “values” that people are always harping about, yet they rarely defend, and many abuse it. We can only be in the company of strangers through unwritten & unenforced courtesy, otherwise we would travel with swords, and in fact, one of the reasons people push for the right to carry guns is because they feel anxious in company of discourteous people: vocal protestors, ubiquitous panhandlers, aggressive drivers, loud music, and all the inconveniences of modern life that would be made less obtrusive through, increasingly uncommon, courtesy.

Courtesy works best if we indoctrinate our youth but because we don't, political correctness & aggressive activism have made courtesy into a handicap. The fact is, now we need to teach children how to combat against discourtesy, and not have their own courtesy exploited. Shaming, shunning & ridicule are not effective antidotes, and any kind of engagement just plays into the hands of the courtesy-gamers. The best defense is recognizing what is happening to us: courtesy can only be exploited if we let it be. Stop commenting on those click-bait websites, refuse to be raucous at a demonstration, don't give beggars money, tell the person that is cutting in line that they are being rude & if you have to, call an usher. Courtesy needs to be taught in school, and the penalty for the discourteous needs to be an quick electric zap.