Manners manslaughter

Chivalry is dead, and women killed it. Actually, that's not completely true. It just stopped being cool to be nice. It's possible that chivalry was never cool, but I've always assumed it was in the 1950s. Perhaps it was because they didn't have color TV. Somewhere between Axl Rose and Snoop Dogg, good manners just went out of style.

I'd like to clarify that my parents put every effort into raising me to be a gentleman, and I'm writing primarily out of bitterness. My high school experience showed me that all worthwhile girls truly do want a nice guy, but only to talk to about the problems they're having with whichever collar-popping idiot they are dating at the time. Any display of gentlemanly behavior relegates one to permanent friend status, which is basically like purgatory without the hope of eventual salvation.

Chivalry is now disappearing because it just doesn't work anymore. So I guess it's not fair to say that women intentionally murdered chivalry. Movies, music and TV made them do it. Either way, it's manslaughter.

Matt Smith '08 is a politics major from Brentwood, TN. He can be reached at mcstwo@princeton.edu.