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CNN Live At Daybreak

America Recovers: The Myth of The New Yorker, Polite or Rude?

Aired October 04, 2001 - 07:59   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ZAHN: As you might know, New Yorkers have in the past had a reputation for being in a rush and often -- well, you never really thought that of New Yorkers, did you?

O'BRIEN: No. I honestly don't. I think that's a myth. I think New Yorkers are really nice people.

ZAHN: It is a myth.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

ZAHN: And you know what? That has really all changed in the wake of the terrorist attack.

O'BRIEN: Yes. Well, you know, the other day when I went down to police headquarters to get some credentials, you had to go through this phalanx of security. Unfailingly polite, everybody, all the police officers despite all that has happened here.

CNN's Jeanne Moos has been looking into this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some clouds have no silver lining, but at least the worst put folks on their best behavior.

UNIDENTIFIED NEW YORKER: Oh my god.

MOOS: From store owners offering terrified pedestrians refuge to strangers helping someone who's down. And even as New York got back on its feet, hard core New Yorkers seemed softer.

UNIDENTIFIED NEW YORKER: More willing to talk and when they say how are you, they really mean how are you?

UNIDENTIFIED NEW YORKER: Or even smiling, just making eye contact, you know? Usually people are like, you know.

UNIDENTIFIED NEW YORKER: More polite. They look into your eyes, say good morning. They hold the door for you. They're like going back to maybe the '50s.

MOOS: From less pushing in the subways to less pushiness on the road.

UNIDENTIFIED NEW YORKER: What I have found, though, is that there's less honking of horns.

MOOS: Now drivers are honking to make way for an ambulance or to signal it's OK to cut in front.

UNIDENTIFIED NEW YORKER: Well, I know that I've gotten more patient after this. I realize that I'm just lucky to be alive.

MOOS: These days you might even find a shoulder to cry on.

UNIDENTIFIED NEW YORKER: And I was just sitting at the bar waiting for a burger and all of a sudden I just like lost it. And all of these people came over and started hugging me, I mean complete strangers, and like that doesn't happen in New York City.

UNIDENTIFIED NEW YORKER: This incident draw everybody together, you know that, right? Black, white Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and that's the best thing.

MOOS: Even the pierced look draws fewer sharp glances.

UNIDENTIFIED NEW YORKER: I think they don't look at us in quite the weird manner that they used to.

MOOS: But to some New Yorkers, all this niceness is just another sign that things aren't normal.

UNIDENTIFIED NEW YORKER: When the police tell you you can't go down a block and people wave and say OK, hey, this is New York. You're not supposed to wave and say OK.

MOOS: Those perturbed by surplus civility take heart.

UNIDENTIFIED NEW YORKER: It's gone back to the usual.

UNIDENTIFIED NEW YORKER: Today on the subway when I was in the subway people weren't patient. They weren't. People were irked, hitting each other.

UNIDENTIFIED NEW YORKER: We're salesmen. No one's ever nice to us.

MOOS (on camera): Are they being nicer now? No?

UNIDENTIFIED NEW YORKER: No.

UNIDENTIFIED NEW YORKER: No. They've actually gotten worse.

MOOS (voice-over): Even a rude awakening doesn't make everyone permanently polite.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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