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There was a time when the less formal dinner jacket/suit (aka tuxedo) caused a scandal. Of course it you wear a dinner jacket most places today you are an overdressed oddity. Professional or white collar workers wouldn’t consider wearing anything less than a suit to work. Sport coats were for sporting events and men’s etiquette called for ties or some sort of neckwear for fishing, shooting, golfing etc. Even blue collar workers wore suits to church and ties were not optional. Tweeds were only for the country and no gentleman would be seen in public in his shirt sleeves! We all draw the line at different places and I’d care as much about someone thinking I shouldn’t wear my hat at a restaurant as you might for someone thinking you were dressed inappropriately for church if not wearing a suit and tie.
I agree that the falling standards are not to my tastes, but I’m also not wanting go back to where things were. I do think that kindness and consideration for others are timeless attributes of someone who was raised right, but all the contrived rules of etiquette that are not based on something more substantial than tradition are open to personal interpretation.
You present a false choice. There is no need to "go back to where things were," nor am I advocating it. What I'm decrying is the prevailing more that it is best if everybody decides for themselves what is appropriate without a care for those around them. Many of the rules of etiquette have solid foundations in practicality and respect for others. Just because it's been lost to history and ignorance why doesn't mean it doesn't provide some benefit.
I take a holistic view toward etiquette, and take seriously how a person fits into civilization. Civilization needs guardrails or it isn't civilized. I could go on and on about deconstructionism, the Frankfurt School, and various other things that have gotten us to where we are, but that's a subject that requires more than I'd like to get into.
All this sounds like nonsense when talking about hat wearing, but etiquette and manners are lubrication that allows for civilization to function without descending into anarchy. The little things count, too. Call it the "broken windows" theory of preserving society.