The Writing Life with Virgil Mathes
  • Home
  • About Me
  • My Novels
  • Writing
    • Academic Work >
      • Curriculum Vitae
      • Rhetoric and The Duel
    • Fiction
    • Poetry
  • Writin' the River
  • Contact
  • Friends

Writin' The River

My little space on the 'net  to discuss …

The Tyranny of the Water Closet

10/11/2019

0 Comments

 

Civilization is what separates us from the animals, and in a free society people should be able to comport themselves, especially with regard to their personal hygiene needs, without permission from others.  But there is an insidious movement encroaching on our freedoms lately, a scourge that threatens the very moral fiber of our culture - the locked “public” restroom.

There was a time when public facilities and retail businesses had public restrooms, and they were open to . . . the public. But in recent years there has been a disturbing trend among local businesses to secure their facilities behind locks and keypad entry systems; the facilities are still “public” in the sense that they are available to anyone, but they are only available to those select few who know “the code.” This code is obtained by conferring with an employee, any employee, to get the code or in some rarer cases, an actual key.  Such keys are almost always attached to a sheet of wood or other signage so that your intentions are publicly broadcast.​

I understand there are reasons for this increased security; I live in an older section of my city where the demographic is less . . . sophisticated than elsewhere in town. Across town the MOD pizza place has open bathrooms, but at the one nearest my house it’s locked and I have to ask for a code . . . But my girlfriend doesn’t. See, only the men’s room is locked.  At PetSmart both are locked, even though it’s not a quarter mile away.  I’m not sure what this says about the men who frequent that MOD pizza, or the general clientele of PetSmart,  but none of it is good.  I don’t doubt that these businesses have had incidents that prompted such measures, but I also don’t care - when you have to ask a stranger for help with your own bodily functions, that’s a sure sign that the world is going to hell in a handbasket.  Grown adults should not have to ask permission to go potty.
Picture
The locked “public” restroom: a sure sign of a civilization in decline
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Join me as I postulate about literature, popular culture, martial arts, and who knows what else.

    Archives

    July 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    October 2019
    June 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    November 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015

    Categories

    All
    1860 Army
    21 Foot Rule
    45-70
    Adult Choices
    Andres Moreno
    Arizona
    Arizona Rangers
    Bagwell
    Ballad Of The Laurie Swain
    Battle Blade
    Battle Blades
    Battle School
    Ben Foster
    Big Iron
    Bill Jordan
    BLM
    Bone Tomahawk
    Book Review
    Bowie
    Brotherhood
    Cancel Culture
    Case Bowie
    Chopped
    Christian Bale
    Civil Rights
    Clear Creek
    Cold Steel
    Color Guard
    Colt
    Community Service
    Confederate
    COVID
    CustomerService
    Darren Castle
    Defensive
    Democracy
    DiCaprio
    Dinosaur
    Donald Sutherland
    Doug Peacock
    Education
    Expendables Bowie
    Family
    Flu
    Forsaken
    Fortress
    Frank Williams
    Freedom
    Frontier
    Gary Johnson
    Greeting
    Grey Westerns
    Grizzly Years
    Harley Davidson
    Hateful Eight
    Helles Belle
    HEMA
    Heroes
    High School
    Hillary
    Hobgoblins
    Honor
    Hostiles
    Hugh Glass
    Infantry
    James Keating
    Jill Stein
    Jurassic World
    Just Be
    Justified
    Keep Rubber Side Down
    Keifer Sutherland
    Kindle
    Knife
    Learning
    Legacy
    Lever Action
    Lynne Holliday
    Mandated
    Marlin
    Marty Robbins
    Memorial
    Michigan
    Mogollon Rim
    Monuments
    Motorcycle
    Mountain Men
    Movie Review
    Movie Reviews
    Movie Violence
    Musso Bowie
    Natchez Bowie
    Navajo
    Officer Darrin Reed
    Old West
    Phoenix Society
    Plowshare Forge
    Police
    Presidential Race 2016
    Quentin Tarantino
    Ranger
    Ranger Up
    Range War
    Rebirth
    Relax
    Revenant
    River
    River City Sheath
    Roomba
    SAA
    Seminar
    Service
    Short Story Collection
    Show Low
    Skinwalkers
    State Firearm
    Statues
    Student
    Success
    Swordsmanship
    Third Party Candidates
    Thuer
    Tolerance
    Tony Hillerman
    Training
    Trump
    Utopia
    Vacuum
    Volunteer
    Water Closet
    Wattpad
    Welcome
    Wes Studi
    Westerns
    Wilderness
    Winchester
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.