Rudeness When Jim Morrison of the Doors famously sang, "People are strange," what he should have sang is, "People are rude!" Two articles, one published by ABC.com and another published by CNN.com (via the Oprah Winfrey Show), discussed how rude modern day America is. It is the purpose of the essay to compare and contrast these articles to learn about a particular rude habit we (Americans) have and how we can correct that habit.

The ABC article, "Poll: Rudeness in America, 2006," is a researched-based article that surveyed 1,014 random adults on what type of "rude" behavior they most often witness as well as what type of "rude" behavior they find most irksome. The five categories tested were: Making Annoying Cell Phone Calls, Being Rude and Disrespectful, Using Bad Language, Using Words Like B.S. And Freaking, and Using Cells or E-mail Mid-Conversation.

In the other article, the 'Oprah' piece, the methodology for determining rude behavior was significantly less scientific. That is to say, beside some expert advice and a completely random, unsubstantiated fact,...

It consisted of Oprah asking famous people, like her Jewish friend Jerry Seinfeld, and her audience what type of ill-mannered behavior they found most displeasing.
In both articles, cell phone etiquette came up. Apparently, as a society, we are rude and/or disrespectful when we use our cell phones. The ABC article found that 87% of people bear witness to other individuals talking on cell phones "in a loud or annoying manner" (Cohen & Langer). Moreover, 71% of people are bothered somewhat or bothered a lot by cell phone offenses. In short, annoying cell phone usage is an epidemic that pisses almost everyone off.

With regards to the Winfrey article, rude cell phone behavior was brought up on four separate occasions (more than any other gripe). The cell phone issue was raised by Mr. Seinfeld, a woman who went for a visit at the gynecologist, by a TSA agent, and a disgruntled…