Their politeness is sometimes forced and they are masters in the art of exercising restraint and they are able to remain composed and polite in all circumstances in order to preserve appearances.
In other words, they know how to avoid making a scene.
This is in contrast to people from lower classes, you know, people who might be uneducated, rough in manners and ready to say anything they want to, and say it out loud. The Chinese public generally behaves this way. They would shout at each other in restaurants and airport waiting rooms as though they were at their own homes.
Sorry about saying something less than pleasant about us Chinese. I should’ve left them out of the conversation altogether whenever we talk about things like good manners. I usually do.
At any rate, people in the so-called polite society usually go out of their way to be correct, both in speech and behavior, lest they offend others in their presence.
I notice that I’ve said “so-called” more than once. That’s because people in the so-called polite society do often force it. They force it so much, as a matter of fact that you can easily detect their affectations. They sound insincere and pretentious.
Good manners and affectations notwithstanding, they usually fail to hide the fact that they’re often snobbish, bigoted, pompous, hollow and often downright obnoxious when it’s all said and done – as any member of the lower classes can be.
【Polite society?】相关文章:
最新
2020-09-15
2020-08-28
2020-08-21
2020-08-19
2020-08-14
2020-08-12