Sheeple in Public Transport

[Triple Zero]

(I started writing this in the PICS thread, but it got kinda long and might warrant a topic of its own. I dunno if it's Apple Talk material, but I hardly ever start a thread here anyway, so here goes)

what this cartoon made me wonder, this is the morning commute right? no wonder people look glassy-eyed and robotic, they're all still zoning out from having just gotten up. perhaps they havent even had breakfast yet, or coffee. or perhaps it's the way back home from work, after a day's work, I'm not making an effort appearing bright and lucid either. and if it's the same stretch, every day, and all you have to do is get in and get out at the right time, no wonder you "shut off" during the trip. it's just a piece of time you have to kill. and then there's the awkward social situation, like in an elevator, but less so. you're in a small confined space, with other people close to you, but nobody talks to eachother, avoids eachother's gaze, etc. it's just weird. to be honest, this is part of why I enjoy public transport, for the sheer alienness of it well that, and travel in general (even if it's the same 1 hour trip every week). and yeah I know from Suu's stories that public transport can be a horrible place as well, I think I got a taste from that in other large cities such as Vienna. In my experience it seems to be mostly subways though. they carry some kind of inherent gritty filth and seem to attract more scum. but that's magical thinking, so I'm going with the idea that the gritty filth, being subterranean and the lack of having a nice view is what makes people appear more like scum and also act more this way (in a similar way to how people are more likely to commit minor crimes in an alley tagged with ugly graffiti than in a clean one). I wonder, what is the inherent difference, or what would it be like, if a bus, subway or train would carry the same atmosphere as a bar? Physically it is kind of the same right, small space, people close to eachother. Wouldn't it be great to enter your morning commute, say "Hi everybody!" and strike up a conversation with some random person? Sure enough, most of them won't be that interesting to talk to, but there's 100 people on that train, chances are there are at least five persons as bored as you are. Maybe ubiquitous wireless internet (will be here soon in my city) and something like twitter could lower the treshold somewhat. One could anonymously broadcast "urggh morning, i need coffee #trainGroningenLeeuwarden" or whatever, signifying you're currently in the train from Groningen to Leeuwarden and anybody who cares can tune in on that #tag, chat anonymously (it's kind of like an impromptu IRC room) either to a particular @person, or broadcast on the #tag. And who knows, at some point you might actually make eyecontact with someone! I heard the above idea was actually supposed to be made popular with the Bluetooth "presence" feature in mobile phones, but afaik it never took off (apart from some weird story about people using bluetooth to broadcast they are available for casual sex or something--I doubt that was ever more real than some reporter's wishful thinking). Okay, long meandering stream of thoughts There's probably some very basic and simple reason why this obviously doesn't work or something, which probably amounts to "people are people are assholes", but I don't see it right now. Semi-related story, I've started following #groningen the hashtag of my city on Twitter (with "-oogTV" to the query to filter out the local news station that spams the tag every half hour with multiple stories about old ladies that fall off their bike and such. not everyone that goes to the hospital or every drunk idiot the police pick up is news, damnit! no matter how "local" you are.) So anyway, this guy tweets from his phone that he just got on the train from #Amsterdam to #Groningen, and wants to know what time he arrives, I had nothing better to do so I looked it up for him and tweeted it back, random interaction between strangers.

xkcd 610 Sheeple

[Cramulus]

1, excellent post
2, In my two years and change at this board, I have never seen someone use a table. I am blown away.

[Triple Zero]

it looks nifty eh?

[AFK]

Living in a vastly rural state, the public transport concept IS very alien to me.  I really enjoy my solitary commute to and from work.  It's my time to play some music and live in my own head for 40 minutes.  I don't think I like people enough to want to be social in such a setting. 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I haven't commuted for some time, but I would be intensely bothered if the train turned into a mobile version of the bar. I go to the bar to socialize, and I have to be in a particular headspace to want that. Commuting, day in and day out, I did not have the energy for meeting people and making friends. I usually used to read, absorb the last peace and quiet before being launched into the hubbub of my workplace, and just wanted to be left alone.

[Captain Utopia]

I don't think that cartoon is accurate. The author seems to use his position to challenge dominant memes within a subculture. The thought that it could be true is an interesting mind fuck. But anyone who has worked in a moderately sized office knows of many people for whom that thought would never arise. Those people have to get to work somehow.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

I always hope that the picture here is more accurate of the world at large. But, once upon a time, not too long ago... I was a sheep. I still know people that are sheep, that don't ever seem to question what they see, hear and watch on the evening news.

Sometimes I fancy that they are in a shrinking minority and that more and more people are getting turned on and tuned in... but, sometimes I think maybe I'm a bit too optimistic and hopeful.

[Darth Cupcake]

I dunno, I laughed really hard when that cartoon came up in my feed the other day.

Because damn, it's like the Hot Topic goth kids who are ALL SO UNIQUE and ALL SO MISUNDERSTOOD.

It seems like I'm constantly hearing from people how THEY are the ONLY ONE(s) who THINK and are FREE and INDIVIDUALS.

No one has yet said that they are the only Really Real Discordians, but I figure if I started them on Discordianism they would jump on that right quick.

Sorry Zippy, but I actually HATE the term "sheeple" because of the people that I hear use it all the time. Honestly, most of the people that complain to me about superior they are to everyone around in the public transit or the mall or the office or the whatever... usually aren't. I don't really claim to be any better, but I do get hell of tired of listening to it from people who are just sheep to the "counterculture." Or, in many cases, sheep to the mainstream culture, and I'd hardly call them more aware than a scone! Also, just in general, I find the attitude of "oh, I am so much wiser and more advanced than everyone else" to be grating, but particularly so in people that I see do the same idiotic things as those that they complain about. Fie on you, hypocrisy!

I know my own superiority complex, thinking I was so much more aware than those around me and so much better than they are, was a really big bar in my BIP for a long time.

It's really easy to write people off through pre-judgment, and every time you do, your universe shrinks just a little bit more.

...I think I have wandered into tangent/potential borderline threadjack land. Sorry.



BAHAHAHAHA edit for BBcode fail

[Captain Utopia]

but, sometimes I think maybe I'm a bit too optimistic and hopeful.

If you iterate prisoners dilemma through a quantum manifold, it turns out that being optimistic and hopeful about _everything_ is actually the strategy which best guarantees happiness. Or continuity of existence. When I figure out which, I'll finish the paper.

[Captain Utopia]

If you iterate prisoners dilemma through a quantum manifold

Holy fuck - reading old posts is beyond cringe-worthy.  I can't believe no one hit me over the head with that.

I wonder, what is the inherent difference, or what would it be like, if a bus, subway or train would carry the same atmosphere as a bar? Physically it is kind of the same right, small space, people close to eachother. Wouldn't it be great to enter your morning commute, say "Hi everybody!" and strike up a conversation with some random person? Sure enough, most of them won't be that interesting to talk to, but there's 100 people on that train, chances are there are at least five persons as bored as you are.

Are there any public transport systems in the world where people aren't closed-off to each other?

This gives me an idea though.. would it be possible to seed the behavior?  Or at least demonstrate how it's done?  Singing in the subway is awesome, but it's not exactly easy to join in.  Pantless subway days are neat, but it's even more - we're the cool kids who knew not to wear our tighty-whities today - it doesn't feel participatory, you know?

But why not?  It could be less staged than the other subway hijinks.  Just 2-3 seeming strangers who get into an interesting conversation one day.  How easy would it be to drag in other subway passengers?  Easier than asking them to take off their pants and start singing, I would wager.

An easy way to come up with subject matter could be to take any (decent) memebomb and work backwards..



 
 
 
 
 
 

A conclusion is reached when there's nothing left to think about on a particular subject.
	No, there's always something left to think about.. a conclusion is when you yourself can't think of anything else.
Well I can always think of something, I just don't know if it's right or not.
	How will you ever know if something is right if you stop thinking about it?
A conclusion is simply when you stop thinking?
	Right - that's settled then.

Or you could just talk about normal stuff, drawing upon trendzzzzght ^*_.~`..

It might be fun to hover just at the cusp of obviousness.. playing dumb might draw people in more easily, as we all love an opportunity to show how smart we are.  Bottom line though, I like 000's vision, even if the conversations weren't personally interesting to me.. I think it'd be nice to have another option than to always glance fearfully away from the threat of human contact.

[Adios]

Trip, just start random conversations. While not on public transport, but in other crowded situations where people have to stay in one place, I do all the time. It has been my experience that once the ice is broken they just turn into normal people.