But the thread wasn't simply about people not dressing appropriately for the opera. It was about the coarsening of our society, the devolution of its standards of conduct, and the increasing lack of gentility. You might want to check out Letitia Baldridge's NYT commentary reminiscing about her shopping experiences.
You're right. It sort of rolled along to engulf many different situations and issues. I find myself in an extremely unusual situation. My family knows how worried I am about what is becoming of our world. The lack of moral standards, lack of "gentility" (good word), and gosh, it's just awful these days. I worry about what sort of world my new grandchild will be facing. sigh
Anyhow, and here I am, on this thread, with some people thinking I'm one of the weirdos. My kids will get a real kick out of this. What's even stranger, is that my views about "judging people by their clothes" goes way back to what I was taught as a child. Taught by my folks, my grandparents, and our church. I think some folks are so riled up by the extreme fashion trends (some extremely tasteless) our young people are wearing that for anyone to even suggest that granny should be able to wear slacks to church is something they'll attack in their anger over other things.
Oh well, I'll check out that commentary you mentioned. Thanks for the tip. Good night now. :)