What is it about us that we seem to have forgotten how to behave like decent and civilised human beings?
There have been several media reports this week about theatre performances being disrupted by badly behaved audience members. The Police were called to a performance of The Bodyguard in Manchester when a punch up broke out among audience members. Sadly, this was not an isolated incident. Theatre staff across the UK have reported incidents of drunkenness, racism, swearing, fighting and even sexual abuse.
Nor is this hooliganism confined to theatres. When did you last go to the cinema and not have the film spoiled by some idiot using their mobile phone? Football fans think that they are entitled to let off flares inside the stadium, seemingly oblivious to the fact that this idiocy could easily kill one of their fellow spectators.
Some people have suggested that this poor behaviour is simply a result of lockdown. The argument is that spending the best part of two years without leaving home means that we have all forgotten how to behave. While I accept that this may be a factor, I can’t help feeling that the two main causes of this are alcohol and mobile phones.
The incident in Manchester seems to have been caused by a group of drunks trying to out-sing the cast of the show. Many people, of all age groups and social classes, now seem to be incapable of enjoying themselves without getting inebriated. They do it without giving any thought to the impact which their anti social behaviour has on the rest of us.
There are also far too many people who can’t go to see a film, concert or play without looking at their phones every two minutes. The fact that other audience members are annoyed by this is obviously not a consideration for them. If you can’t go 10 minutes without checking your social media then there is clearly something very sad about your life.
What can we do about this? Well, enforcement might help but the relevant authorities don’t show any signs of wanting to get involved, For example, here in Scotland it is actually illegal to drink alcohol on trains; a law which few people observe and which British Transport Police make no attempt whatsoever to enforce.
Communications campaigns aimed at changing public behaviour can often be effective, but inevitably take years to produce any significant impact. In the meantime, is it really too much to ask people that they stop to think about the effect that their actions have on other people?
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