From 'nice' to 'shitty'

Sometimes, though not all that often, I ask myself the question of conscience: have there been any significant developments in society in recent decades that I didn't see coming? The answer must humbly be: yes, absolutely. I'll mention a few that still manage to surprise me.

Three of them relate to people's appearance. The most astonishing, to me, remains the tattoo craze. Until about thirty years ago, tattoos were a phenomenon primarily found among sailors, carnival goers, and motorcyclists. It was associated with an antisocial kind of roughness, a need to rebel against the narrow-mindedness of the bourgeoisie.

But look around you. Perhaps half the population has tattoos in all sorts of variations. Sometimes they're nothing more than small decorations, but often large areas of the body are covered in ink. I've seen people inked from head to toe. Young and old, male or female—it doesn't matter; tattoos have become a staple in all walks of life. There are health risks associated with them, and they're difficult to get rid of, but that shouldn't spoil the ink fun.

I don't disapprove; everyone should be able to decide for themselves how they want to look, but what explains the massiveness? Herd mentality? Or, to put it mildly, fashion sense?

Men appear to be at least as susceptible to it as women. Two particularly striking examples: shorts and beards. Until twenty or thirty years ago, men wore shorts only on sunny vacations. These days, the first rays of sunshine are enough to expose their calves, hairy or otherwise, and covered in varicose veins, to both daylight and other people.

And the beards? They run in all families, including mine. Sometimes I'm embarrassed by the smooth face I have to maintain among the beards. Would I…? But a beard seems like so much work.

Podcasts are certainly part of the rise of such trends. When I heard enthusiastic stories about them from young people about ten years ago, my initial incredulous reaction was: "But that's radio, old-fashioned radio! Who will even listen to the radio anymore?"

These days, just about everyone who wants to make a difference has their own podcast. Podcasts are the future. We're reading less and less, chatting and listening all the more.

Our greetings have also undergone a major change. In the past, you'd say "See you later," "See you soon," or simply "Bye!" These days, "Have a nice day" is the order of the day, even if you suspect the other person is having a bad day. That "have a nice day" has become so prevalent that my cinema now wishes us "Have a nice show" through the screen at the beginning of the screening.

Was this a nice piece? I hope so, but I wouldn't be surprised if some people thought it was shit. Because that's no longer a trend, but a habit: we call everything bad shit. Men and women do that, as if they've all had bad experiences with that body part. I find that hard to imagine, and that's why I think it's a shitty habit.