I think we're in an era of crassness and indecency which is modelled by, unhappily, the person in our White House. I've never thought of him as a decent person, since the first time I saw him on late night TV decades ago. He's the kind of man I'd cross the street to avoid and I would never want to be somewhere alone with him.
But, what is decency? If you look up the adjective, decent, you'll find several similar definitions:
An AI definition includes: "conforms to recognized standards of propriety, morality, or suitability."
Webster's definition say: " moral integrity, kindness, and goodwill."
Cambridge dictionary says: "Decent means socially acceptable or good." It also says: "It can also mean acceptable, reasonable, or passable."
For me, decency is behaving with an awareness of the presence and feelings of others with the aim of being courteous and thoughtful. That includes not being too talkative, using language that is not crass or provocative, not being to aggressive. It means knowing and using commonly acceptable language and actions like holding doors for people and helping people carry heavy things. It means not acting as if you're the only person in the room. It means not being too loud or boisterous.
This video shows this kind of indecent behavior: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfbNIb2-0ks modelled by the person in our White House.
Children often behave in ways that, as adults, is not acceptable. They are self-centered, loud, sometimes destructive and unintentionally rude. Adults who behave childishly are no longer decent.
'Karens' are not decent because they don't recognize the rights of others and set themselves as pinnacles of virtue. In the extreme, criminals are indecent.
When I was a child, in school, we were taught a variety of social behaviors, like walking in a line and not interrupting. Today, some parents don't want their children taught those things among others because they feel it's their job to do that or because they disagree with what's taught. The problem is that bad behaviors are tolerated just so long before someone decides to stop it. How many times does someone cut in line before someone does something about it.
Decency means understanding that none of us is the center of the universe and should not behave as if we are.
In short, decency means being aware of others and their rights and adjusting your own behavior to the situation. If you're unwilling to do that, you should leave the situation so that everyone else there can enjoy themselves.
Normally, these things are taken care of by those badly affected by the bad behavior but now that we have people in government and celebrities modelling bad behavior and being accepted for these behaviors, others who feel constrained have begun to exhibit these behaviors.
In any case, I'm tired of those who think they should be allowed bad behaviors and that they are as acceptable.
