Expectation
If you bump into super star Chow Yun-fat in the Kowloon City wet market, you would be pleasantly surprised. Why? The reason is simple – you don’t expect him to be doing his own shopping! We regard these celebrities as “extraordinary” and therefore should not be doing anything “ordinary”. This is societal expectation working!
Anybody with a mouth and has heard of foul language would be able to reproduce it. We can hear people screaming in such language over the phone while commuting on MTR. All we do is we walk away! But when a teacher yelled out one such phrase at a police, the whole society of Hong Kong was shaken. Some people can tolerate deviance while others can’t. Or some deviance can be tolerated while others can’t be! To me, a teacher in whatever kind of situation should never utter any vulgar language. There is a fine line drawn and we have to observe it. This doesn’t make us “pretentious” or less cool.
Very often, the “extraordinary” people choose to do something “ordinary”. A president can be picking up a baby from the crowd and holding him or kissing him! In his Lunar New Year video message, the Chief Executive and wife are both working in the kitchen and sharing a meal with “ordinary” people. They condescend so as to appear more human. We can be pleasantly amused but we should remain cool. These are only acts!
