Trash Tawkin'

Lifelong New Yorker though I may be, I was taught the golden rule as a child that, if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all. At least not in public, and not to people that you don't know. Hold your tongue. Silence is golden -- and deafening. Let people hang themselves with their own words, and don't hang yourself. And on and on and on. 

Talk less, smile more.

Well, in the world of 2018, that golden rule is, as we might say in NYC, kaput.

And here some very dramatic, NYC-related examples:

Take Harry Siegel, the big-time city reporter, who trash talks the current owner of the Village Voice (you know, the guy who just destroyed it). Siegel talks about his encounters with this guy, about how's he's a complete liar. Trash talking, in-the-fray, at its finest.

Then there's the lady who might have been First Lady: Judith Giuliani who is currently in a nasty divorce battle with the ex-mayor. She talks about how he's changed, how he's become a worst man (not that he was ever that good to begin with). The thing about this particular trash talk is that it's less exciting gossip and more like depressing venting. It's sad -- sad trash.

And then there's the man we might call Deep Throat 2 or Deep Wrote -- the anonymous Trump White House official who trash talks the very man he works for in a recently published op-ed. It's amazing, mind-boggling stuff, and it makes you wonder what this country has come to. It's sickening, scary, and fascinating all at once.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of trash talking (perhaps I'm a victim of my breeding) because to me it seems like a lot of wasted energy. Ultimately, what does it achieve unless something tangible comes from it?

But in these divided, partisan, social-media times, trash talking is the only industry in this country that's thriving. 

P.S. Another word for trash talking is "jive talking" just like the Bee Gees told us back in 1977!