by Mark Hammerschmidt

Created on: October 08, 2007

The decline of movie theatre etiquette is a paradigm for the general decline of civilization. Several factors contribute to it, but the biggest cause is the failure of role models to teach kids how to respect others.

Here's an example. Last week I took my kids to see a movie. We found our seats and sat down. Another family came in and sat down behind us. Before the movie started, as I passed out candy and helped my kids get situated, I noticed that the a teenage girl sitting behind my 7-year-old daughter had her feet on top of the seat, paying no attention to the fact that she was kicking my daughter in the head. I turned around and asked her to remove her feet from the back of the seat. She rolled her eyes as they dropped to the ground. Her mother looked at me, gave a fake smile, and shoved popcorn in her face. I would never sit beside my kids and allow them to kick people in the head. But, most parents don't care. They let their kids do anything as long as they don't have to do the hard job of parenting.

This lack of parenting contributes to kids not respecting their fellow human beings. The following night, my fiancee and I went to see another movie (without our kids). Sitting in front of us were several teenagers who felt compelled to provide the entire audience with their sarcastic commentary. I'm not one to shy away from sarcastic commentary, and even enjoy it if it's actually funny. However, the humor produced by 16-year-old minds aren't funny to anyone other than 16-year-old kids. They distract everyone with comments and giggling that isn't even on par with Beavis and Butthead. And if they aren't talking to each other, they are talking on their cell phones. Some calls are just too important to miss.

We live in a "me"-driven society. People somehow believe that the world around them either does not exist or doesn't matter. Even our nation's leaders perpetuate this. George W. Bush stands in front of the world and exclaims, "You're either with us or against us." Our country is the only country that matters. We don't respect anybody. If you don't like it, too bad. We don't care.

There is no simple solution. The problem extends beyond movie theatres. Until people take some responsibility for the future of this world and how human beings operate around each other, we're on track to a complete collapse.

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