Thursday, March 13, 2008

Blogging According to Emily Post

Someone commented to me that they noticed that I don't cover political issues on this blog. They asked me why I don't. "Noch dus feilt mir aus"--I need that on top of everything else?

Years back Emily Post established a rule of etiquette regarding dinner table conversation when company was present. The rule also held when people found themselves in other polite company. There were four topics that she said should not be discussed: religion, money, politics and sex.

I've already violated the first two of her principles, and I'm not looking to make it a home run by including all of them. Having said that, let me also add that the remaining two have become so entwined that to talk about one you are also talking about the other.

I've also noticed this: the "politeness" factor remains fairly constant when discussing religion and money; it burns and crashes when the other two are added in. Sniping on this blog has been minimal and I'd like to keep it that way.

Will I remind people to vote in the upcoming Presidential election? Yes, but that is about civic responsibility. Will I discuss the candidates running for office? Puhleeeeeze, spare me that!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

If you can't mention these things in "polite company" then what's left to talk about? The weather? Half the blogs would be out of existence if they couldn't discuss these subjects.