Adventures in Metro, part LX

[elfs]

The other day as I was riding from my office into downtown on the Metro Bus #15, I sat down next to an ordinary-looking guy who was fiddling with his iPod. Across from me was a lean, somewhat unkempt looking man in a blue windbreaker, who was scanning the bus in the mildly agitated manner of someone who expects the universe to reach out and wallop him at any moment.

I reached down into my backpack and pulled out my laptop to work on the Jera timeline. (Omaha's got me hooked on this idea of trying to timeline the story properly before I continue, since it's such a mess.) This was apparently enough to set the nervous guy off.

"HOW COME YOU GUYS HAVE GOT TO BE WIRED ALL THE TIME?" he shouted. "Don't you understand that those machines can't love you? They don't even like you! Get into the real world and disconnect yourselves! Why do you have to be typing and looking and listening to them? There are real people out here! You can't really do anything on those machines that's important. Not when there are real people in the real world!" On and on in that line of thought past one, two, three, four bus stops. Time and again he'd stomp his sneakered foot to the floor as if to emphasize his point. He was making me really uncomfortable but, worse than that, he was making the entire bus a little nervous and I unreasonably felt bad for setting him off, even though I couldn't have known at the time what would trigger him.

I was grateful that my ride was short and I was able to get off. Osiris, explain to me why some people are just so annoying.

Comments

[sirfox.livejournal.com]

Hardly osiris, but i can hazard a guess.

In my short 30 years, i've met any number of people who seem to exist for the sole purpose of being unhappy, and spreading that unhappiness to as many victims as possible. They will happily take any offense that isn't nailed down. They have been, to a person, some of the most miserable, unloved, and unloving people i've ever known.

Maybe it's the low grade version of a sociopath. Had they the skill, intelligence, and motivation, they'd be a serial killer about whom books would be written, movies made, and stories told in hushed tones, because the person hasn't been caught yet. Instead, they kill moods, spreading misery in their wake, and knowing that the ripples of their actions will poison the rest of somebody's day.

Shrug, laugh, pity them, and do your best to counteract their effects. Make somebody random have a good day instead.

[littleone66.livejournal.com]

He's just jealous that he doesn't have one. I guess being wired is better (in my view) than talking to ones self or singing/whistling to everyone else's annoyance.

[dossy.livejournal.com]

The rant, roughly translated, reads:

"I just sent my crappy MacBook back to Apple for its fourth repair and I'm going stark raving mad with nothing to do on the bus! Please, entertain me!"

Change is scary, for some...

[mikstera.livejournal.com]

My guess: he sees that things are changing, that people are interacting in ways other than by voice and movement. It scares him. He doesn't know how to relate to this new world, so he's trying to get everyone else to turn the clock back to a time that better fits his comfort level.

Me, I see myself hanging ten on my surfboard of change into the future, and loving every minute of it. Singularity? Can't wait!

All that said, I don't think we have a good way, as a culture, of dealing with the fact that textual communication has such a narrow bandwidth: no facial expression, no voice tone, no body language. Smilies just don't get the job done, and the immediate nature of online communication (you aren't spending a week carefully crafting a letter to a friend living abroad) doesn't help matters. Misunderstandings abound, and "flame wars" go on without the sorts of moderators we have in face to face conversation.

[orcaarrow.livejournal.com]

The sad part is that I agree that we don't have to be wired all the time. But, I'm glad you left unharmed and without any prolonged damage.

If you'd had a book, he would have made it impossible for you to read, instead

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

I'll bet he just wanted to make someone miserable, as sirfox says. I can't tell you how often I've sat down on a bus and opened a book, only to have someone decide to start interrogating me about it. "Whatcha reading? Do you read a lot? That sure is a long book! Is that a good book? Boy, it's amazing to see somebody reading these days!"

Re: If you'd had a book, he would have made it impossible for you to read, instead

[elfs.livejournal.com]

"It's porn."

Better yet, for someone who's reading over my shoulder while I'm writing on the laptop, loudly: "So, what do you think? The scene with the naked girl and the Great Dane: Too over the top? Really, I want your opinion: you've been reading it for the past 500 words or so."

Re: If you'd had a book, he would have made it impossible for you to read, instead

[woggie.livejournal.com]

Yes, but if I was reading, I'd try to give you an honest answer... :)

[whatthehay.livejournal.com]

All I can say is that if they guy does not like people on computers, he lives in the wrong town!

[bldrnrpdx.livejournal.com]

The weirdos don't just come out for technology. A friend and I were hooping at a nearby park last summer when a guy (also "somewhat unkempt") rode by on his bicycle. He saw us and bellowed to no-one/everyone: "THERE MAY BE HULA HOOPS," then trailed off with "But there ain't no fucking god..."

[(Anonymous)]

I know in Britain here there has been much about the breakdown of local communities, both from technology and easier transport in my mind. They see it as a bad thing, I see it as people making their own communities over greater distances. 200 years ago your community was the people in your town, today it could be somebody 20 miles away or even on the other side of the planet should you so wish.

And I am sure from reading the journal entries that Elf of all people is not the type to ignore reality in favour of the internet.