As the economy implodes, a kinder, gentler Washington Post DateLab

It’s easy to be demanding when the cash is rolling in…and nothing demonstrated this more than the toolish behavior profiled on Washington Post DateLab.

Every week, it seemed, a multi-lingual, marathon-running, gourmet connoisseur, model-sexy World Bank executive or lobbyist *would rail on and on ** about the flaws in the other person:
• Box wine once touched lips
• Attended lesser Ivy
• Interned for lesser senator
• Dave Eggers who?
• Ordered wrong appetizer...and ate aforesaid appetizer with wrong fork
• Wrong race
• Doesn’t listen to “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” on a religious basis
• The infamous “no spark”

* In their own minds.

** Reflects the spirit of – not the exact nature – of the complaints. (The site’s archives were a bit slow in loading today.) Except for “wrong race” – no kidding, that was an actual complaint not once but a few times.

Recently, however, I’ve noticed something new and, dare I say, heartening:
nice, open-minded, seemingly well-intentioned people.

People you suspect might actually contact each other after the fact beyond texting “Wow, I’m just so busy” from their Blackberries. People who seem to actually want to connect with others. People one might actually want to hang out with, not make fun of.

Perhaps the impending economic Armageddon has us all huddling together for warmth.