Are people haughty any more?

The simple answer is yes. Some people are indeed haughty these days. It's one of those words that you don't really hear and if I'm honest it doesn't carry with it much that is complimentary. It tends to be used when someone is a bit aloof, a bit snobby perhaps and gives the impression that they look down on "ordinary people" as they might see them.

I was listening to an audio file that I downloaded from a very well known newspaper. The paper claimed it was a Podcast but I prefer the term Notcast (or file) since it is clearly was not a podcast rather it was a simple mp3 file. Even more annoying the files are not normalised (I won't explain that here if you don't mind), some need attenuation (ditto) and some have an introduction while others don't. Others quite simply end too abruptly. Anyway none of this is central to the point of this posting.

So this columnist, as she is termed, has recorded a whole host of short audio files in which she discusses aspects of her daily work and life. While her insight is interesting and humorous for the most part, she reveals too much about her own preferences and opinions in my view.

This is where the haughty question comes up. She tends to have a go at small things that are really quite normal and not worth worrying about. Stuff like stress, annoying aspects of the modern workplace such as people showing photos of their babies, american office terms and so on.

I'm left with the impression that if everyone acted like she acts then the entire office landscape across the globe would suddenly become wonderful. She attacks an academic who studies links between Formula 1 motor racing and business and says that the institution sponsoring the study should be ashamed or words to that effect.

This is strong stuff and a missed opportunity in my view to do something with more journalistic integrity and more objectivity.

I don't want this to sound like I'm bashing one culture so I'm not going to reveal the names here but it seems to suggest that the haughty concept is alive and well and this is not a good thing. A quick flick through the works of Hofstede and a quick look around the nearest shopping centre on a Saturday afternoon would reveal much about how the world is changing, whether we each like it or not.

Life is all about reactions and those who react from the reptile part of the brain will not survive. For sure they will go on and write ever more column inches of why the present is lamentable and how if only we could go back to old ways things would be wonderful. The old "why can't the status quo be the way forward" argument.

Time to stop judging and start living I'd say.