Another week, another brilliant column from David Brooks. This one is about "the dignity code": the code of personal conduct that Americans from Washington onwards have followed in public life, but that has in recent years almost disappeared:
Every week there are new scandals featuring people who simply do not know how to act. For example, during the first few weeks of summer, three stories have dominated public conversation, and each one exemplifies another branch of indignity. First, there was Mark Sanford’s press conference. Here was a guy utterly lacking in any sense of reticence, who was given to rambling self-exposure even in his moment of disgrace. Then there was the death of Michael Jackson and the discussion of his life. Here was a guy who was apparently untouched by any pressure to live according to the rules and restraints of adulthood. Then there was Sarah Palin’s press conference. Here was a woman who aspires to a high public role but is unfamiliar with the traits of equipoise and constancy, which are the sources of authority and trust. In each of these events, one sees people who simply have no social norms to guide them as they try to navigate the currents of their own passions.
But there is hope, says Brooks - because the current president embodies the traits of dignity so well.
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