BIG MOUTH STRIKES AGAIN AND AGAIN

"To beef or not to beef?" that is not really the question, because it only has one answer: "To beef!". There was a time when people kept their troubles to themselves, retained a bit of dignity and quietly tried to find resolution. There used to be a modus operandi when dealing with the council, the local authority, the Builder, Baker and Candlestick Maker. There was an ethos of keeping one's relationship problems within your friendship group.

Not anymore. Now it's the world of the loudspeaker, the face time and the foghorn. One has only to walk down the high street, sit on a bus or train and the agitated oral bombardment assaults the senses.

Intimate and private conversations are now a form of public speaking shouting, the thoroughfare is the new Speaker's corner, the passenger seat the new amphitheatre. So much drama, too much drama. People seem to thrive on drama; hysteria and outrage are the new gods.

How has it come to this? Social media is generally a convenient bad guy, as is technology. It's now easier to communicate, any time any place and those new found paths of  communication could, and should have been a new way to spread positivity. But, that's not the way of things. A new way to spread negativity was the choice. A new way to tell the world how dramatic and interesting your life is. A new way to show everyone else that you live the life of a reality 'star'. A new way to spread the word that you are a headline maker in your area, a character, a "what you see is what you get" merchant. An opportunity to establish that others have to "take me as you find me" , a means with which to confirm to all and sundry that you "don't suffer fools gladly"

And all at such handsfree, bluetooth, Facetime VOLUME!

Loudness prevails. We live in the age of the big mouth