The Plague That Is a Lack of Personal Dignity
From White Gloves to Tattoos: How America Lost Its Public Grammar
From White Gloves to Tattoos: How America Lost Its Public Grammar
(If you don’t believe him, just do a search on the People of Wal-Mart. The ‘New’ normal is hideous! - DD)
(Rev. Dr. Ronald Moore, The Southern Anglican) - There was a time—not so long ago—when a trip to the grocery store required a certain level of dignity.
Women wore dresses. Some wore gloves. Men wore slacks, often a jacket, at minimum a button-down shirt. Postal workers looked like minor military officers. Police carried themselves with visible authority. Priests were unmistakable, even at a distance.
No one needed to explain who they were.
It was understood.
We lived within what might be called a shared grammar of public life—a system of visible signs that conveyed role, respect, and order without a word being spoken.
And then, within the span of a generation, it began to disappear.
The Grammar We Once Spoke
From the late 19th century through much of the 20th, American society operated with a common assumption:
Public life requires elevation.
Clothing was not merely personal—it was participatory. One dressed not only for oneself, but for the world one inhabited.
A man did not simply “feel like” a banker, a priest, or a public servant—he presented himself as…
Start grocery store fashion over the years cuz spandex should be illegal for some to wear