Evidence of the decline of western civilisation #8921
People are on edge in the US. In less than two weeks I witnessed 3 instances of complete strangers abusing the heck out of eachother. I'm talking serious neck-vein-popping, spittle forming round the edge of the mouth, 'f**k-you buddy' slanging matches:
#1 A drunken guy on a bus in LA bumping into a fellow passenger who proceeded to swear his head off about what on inconsiderate 'asshole' he was. They continued to hurl insults at eachother while sitting side by side for a few miles; #2 A big burly manwith a hard-hat under his arm abusing a skinny little Scientology guy who was spruiking L Ron Hubbard's books in a NY subway station; #3 A smart-arsed white kid trying to destroy the cred of a black guy - just off from work at the airport in Newark, New Jersey, having dinner at a fried chicken joint - for supposedly not knowing the 'real story' of Malcolm X because he'd 'only seen the movie'.
What was most disturbing about the later two incidents was the complete lack of genuine rational argument. Instead the weaker parties were bullied with barages of twisted logic. They'd latch onto a 'point' and just repeat it with increasing aggitation.
And then the New York Times mentioned that a tourist was randomly stabbed by a guy on the subway. It was completely unprovoked. The cops think it might have been a gang initiation. What's scary is that it occured right at the 103rd St station where I was getting off each day to get back to the hostel! It reminds me of when I went canoeing up at Kakadu in the Northern Territory and saw in the paper the next day that a massive salt-water crock was pulled from the river I was falling out of my canoe into all day!
MG
#1 A drunken guy on a bus in LA bumping into a fellow passenger who proceeded to swear his head off about what on inconsiderate 'asshole' he was. They continued to hurl insults at eachother while sitting side by side for a few miles; #2 A big burly manwith a hard-hat under his arm abusing a skinny little Scientology guy who was spruiking L Ron Hubbard's books in a NY subway station; #3 A smart-arsed white kid trying to destroy the cred of a black guy - just off from work at the airport in Newark, New Jersey, having dinner at a fried chicken joint - for supposedly not knowing the 'real story' of Malcolm X because he'd 'only seen the movie'.
What was most disturbing about the later two incidents was the complete lack of genuine rational argument. Instead the weaker parties were bullied with barages of twisted logic. They'd latch onto a 'point' and just repeat it with increasing aggitation.
And then the New York Times mentioned that a tourist was randomly stabbed by a guy on the subway. It was completely unprovoked. The cops think it might have been a gang initiation. What's scary is that it occured right at the 103rd St station where I was getting off each day to get back to the hostel! It reminds me of when I went canoeing up at Kakadu in the Northern Territory and saw in the paper the next day that a massive salt-water crock was pulled from the river I was falling out of my canoe into all day!
MG
posted by Matt G at 1:48 PM
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