Derek BluntDerek Blunt is ranting again...

Alexis de Tocqueville said:

"In a Democracy, the people get the government they deserve."

Maybe the same applies to privacy? People seem to be upset about the so-called lack of privacy these days, or about private information going missing, but I don't notice people being that worried about such matters in their everyday lives. In a (definitely not) highly scientific survey I witnessed the following on a recent train journey in which the carriage was packed (that is to say, there was a large audience):

Someone yawned, and treated us all to a first class view of his tonsils.
Someone was discussing his company's business plan with his business partner on his phone at the top of his voice.
Someone else was making her personal arrangements at the top of her voice.
Someone else let his friend -- and all of us -- know exactly what he told his boss to do with his job.
Someone else spent the entire journey putting her make-up on.
Someone else picked his nose without bothering with such niceties as a tissue.

Was I just unlucky in my choice of fellow travellers? Or does all this signify a deeper malaise in our society, characterised by an absence of any sense of what is appropriate behaviour in public?

If enough 'ordinary' people don't care about maintaining their privacy and a sense of decorum, why should any government?

Derek Blunt: Blunt by name, blunt by nature.