Class? More like Crass
Today, I pose an observation to you. I have noticed that people, in general, have lost any sense of elegance, gentility or just plain class. The other day, I saw a nicely dressed woman, who seemed completely delightful, sporting a tote bag with the text, “Get the F@*% Out Of My Face!”
Wait, what? Why would you want to walk around with that text, branding yourself in a certain way? I was confused, to say the least.
There is a song in the classic musical, “Chicago” titled “Class.” It’s one of my favorites because the brilliant lyrics in the duet rue the lack of class in society. The characters Velma and the Matron sing:
VELMA
Whatever happened to fair dealing?
And pure ethics
And nice manners?
Why is it everyone now is a pain in the ass?
Whatever happened to class?
MATRON
Class
Whatever happened to, “Please, may I?”
And, “Yes, thank you?”
And, “How charming?”
Now, every son of a bitch is a snake in the grass
Whatever happened to class?
And it goes on from there. Kudos to John Kander for the insightful and comical lyrics.
Do you agree? Do you feel, as I do, that there is just a tremendous lack of class in our world today? And if so, why?
Is it because of divisive politics? Social media, which breeds in-your-face nastiness? The lack of respect for…just about anyone and anything? Is it fear, due to endless violence and terrorism?
What is it?? And how can we recover from this epidemic of boorishness? Why has it become pervasive? What can we do to change it?
I do not have the answers today, but I wanted to pose the questions. The one thing I can suggest is, when shopping, choose a tote bag that instead reads, “Have A Nice Day”.
Valerie Smaldone is a 5-time Billboard Magazine Award winner and is well known for her unprecedented success holding the #1 on-air position in the New York radio market on 106.7 Life-FM, an iHeart station. She has hosted, produced, and created several award-winning nationally syndicated programs featuring in-depth interviews with stars like Paul McCartney, Celine Dion, Rod Stewart, Elton John and Mariah Carey among others. Her radio talk show "Bagels and Broadway" highlighted theatre and food personalities. She is an accomplished interviewer and voice artist heard on commercials, narrations, promos and audiobooks, as well as a sought after live announcer.
Most recently, Valerie produced and directed a film, The Thursday Night Club, featuring pop diva Gloria Gaynor in her movie acting debut. She is one of the creators and producers of a docu-series, Divine Renovation, starring Erik Estrada, on streaming networks soon.
