We seem to be discussing two distinct issues here.
First, we have our precious little Duaines and Chanelles who haven't been brought up to understand that there is no prize for normal behaviour other than the entitlement to live in peace and harmony with society - and that the converse is also true.
It is not helped by the twee, mealy-mouthed posters that appear on London transport, featuring a few Bod or Mr. Men type figures saying 'I won't play my music loud', 'I won't put my feet on seats', etc. and an older-looking one saying 'And I'll remember what it was like to be 14'. If the end figure was bigger, had hairy biceps and was saying 'And I won't have to break your neck', then they might not have been missing the point entirely.
The second, and far more insidious, problem, is the grown-ups (and I use that term loosely) who haven't been brought up to understand basic courtesy and consideration for other human beings. These are not adult Duaines and Chanelles; these people wear suits and have office jobs.
The fact that anti-social use of mobile phones has become the issue in focus is kind of incidental, due to the fact that having only one side of somebody else's conversation imposed on you is annoying in its own right, whether the perpetrator is on a mobile phone in the street, a landline in the office, or has escaped from the local nuthouse and is chatting away to his imaginary friend. It's just the latest and most visible example of general selfish behaviour - the same as picking one's nose and eating it on Tube trains, pissing all over the floor of the office toilet and not bothering to clear it up because it's someone else's job (not like at home, although one does wonder with some people), and imagining that 'please allow passengers off the train first' only applies to some other, lower caste of traveller. (Incidentally, may I curse the Government at this point for inveigling me into their 5 a day propaganda; it had one totally unforeseen consequence, to wit, having lost 4 stones in weight, I am now far less able to contribute to the education of this latter group of people on a nightly basis with my right shoulder.)
Let the kids be kids, and if they see fewer so-called respectable grown-ups behaving like jerks on a daily basis and getting away with it, they're more likely to grow up with a sense of respect themselves.
Are the middle-middle classes fit to govern? Only if they are fit to lead. The Parent Teachers' Association, I mean the Brown government, might like to ask themselves that question. They may yet arrive at the answer that the greatest leaders are those who respect and encourage those it considers underneath them to make their own decisions, and to be mature enough to take responsibility for the consequences. It's called 'being an adult'. For example, if I overfill my wheelie bin, the binmen won't empty it. I don't need a stinking ASBO; I will already have a stinking bin. But don't ask me what made me think of that as an example.
@Anonymous Coward: You're an idiot. There's so many of you, though. I have passed the age (12) where I know I'll never be able to wipe all of you out, nor (21) turn you round to my superior way of thinking, nor (39) even to cheerfully live and let live in harmony with you all in this free world. I have now reached the stage of working out how I can make money out of you. So please don't go away.
@Spleen: I would have loved to have been there. Though my first instinct would have probably been to whip my own phone out and film the whole thing for YouTube. Which in many ways makes me no better than the kid who started it.
@Steven Raith: I thoroughly agree. Though sales of E61's would plummet.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
