It may be that we should keep some opinions to ourselves, but that is covered in the notion of "white lie". In general, honesty is the best policy.
Being more considerate has nothing to do with formal etiquette. I am talking about the paraphenalia, as it were: the endless cards, the rules about dressing for dinner, the proliferation of silverware to stump any guest not brought up in luxury, that sort of thing. Streamlining is, in that circumstance, more considerate, not less.
I am using "aristocracy" in a very precise sense, referring to a social class that once had some social utility, and does not any longer (as a class). Of course there persists a patrician class, where family members are groomed to serve in upper management or government, and that is fine. Additionally, there is a "natural aristocracy" of achievement, and that is even more desirable. But heros exist by virtue of achievement, not birth........ |
