New York City, of all places, is leading the nation in trying to legislate away rudeness: bans on everything from cell phones in theaters and resting feet on a subway seat to dogs that bark too loud and fans who spit on baseball players, usually with serious fines and sometimes even jail for those who break the rules. Certainly, behavior that can harm other people should be regulated, but the further the city goes into the "right not be annoyed" territory, the more skeptical and resistant we should be.
