Altruistic Politeness Enforcement Tactics

by Jeff Ventura on August 30, 2010

Interesting piece from The Guardian in which Oliver Burkeman suggests society might be better off if we all inflicted some altruistic punishment on rude people:

The study of happiness rightly focuses on such indisputable virtues as gratitude, generosity, and forgiveness. But any honest accounting of the sources of daily pleasure – for me, anyway – must include the exquisite joys of what I’ve come to think of as Politeness Enforcement Tactics: the guerrilla moves we use to avenge boorish behaviour in public places.

What an interesting idea.

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