|
"Everybody is saying these new houses will never stand up. They are made of the worst materials." A person invited to dinner sees boiled ham, and exclaims, "Oh, mother only yesterday bought the hugest smoked ham." Jokes have been written about people who when somebody says, "I've just caught an awful cold," reply sweetly, "Too bad. Colds are dangerous things. I read where fifteen people died of pneumonia last month." All this is a thoughtless, involuntary, nonmalicious tactlessness. In addition there is an enormous amount of malicious tactlessness, meanness masquerading as naivete innocent "dumbness." A woman who in a mixed group says, "That happened when I was a freshman, and you, Susan, remember, were a senior," is indulging in a bit of disguised malice. More than is realized of the seemingly unintentioned tactlessness is conscious, if disguised, malice. Those who indulge in this type simply need a radical change of heart before they belong in good society. |
|||
|
