Everything I Ever Learned About Civility I Learned in a Small Town

Katherine Dalton:

Henry County, KY. Lesson One: Don’t honk unless it’s friendly. And for goodness’ sake don’t honk at the Ford stopped interminably at the town’s lone traffic light. It’s bound to be Miss Carrie, age 82, deciding whether or not she needs to go the bank (right), or straight on home to start dinner (left). What’s your hurry anyway? Honk and make her jump and you’ll feel guilty for a month.

Precisely. You can only be a rude obnoxious asshole in cities where everyone is basically an anonymous asshole anyway. And the Internet is only just a big mega-city in some ways and populated with even ruder and more obnoxious anonymous assholes. Give me Mayberry over Megalopolis anyday. The whole article is enjoyable but I loved the conclusion:

Still, keep your nose clean, because your life is not really your own, and not only is the good Lord watching—so are about forty other people.