My computer welcomes me when I turn it on in the morning. The ATM machine thanks me for withdrawing money from my own bank account. The screen on the pay-pad at the supermarket thanks me for my patience. The sign at the top of the stairway asks me to please watch my step. Doors of public businesses explicitly welcome me as I enter and thank me as I exit. Other doors thank me for shutting them behind me.
The absurdity of this slides right past us. That a mechanical device could be welcoming or feel thankful for anything is ridiculous on its face. That a wall or door or posted sign could act as some kind of conduit for the expression of polite sentiments is ludicrous. The disembodied words “welcome” and “please” and “thank you” appearing on an electronic screen are utterly empty of content. The warning, “Watch your step” is meaningful—and, in some cases, meaningful to the point of being life-saving—but the addition of “please” is beyond superfluous, and entirely gratuitous.
Is all of this simply more evidence of the technological outsourcing of our humanity? Perhaps. But if so, it is the outsourcing of a humanity that was long ago stripped bare of its human authenticity. The very idea of politeness, as reflecting a separate category of action, is evidence of the degradation of human authenticity. Authentic humans engaged in authentically human interactions have no need for please and thank you. To say please and to beg—to plead—come to the same thing. In traditional human society, where all have access and the capacity to give freely is unrestricted, there is little or no need to ask. In such society, “thank you” is a brutal insult: to thank someone is to say that their kindness was unexpected.
