The Rudeness Rant is simmering through blogland. There are those who target toilets, and those who suffer slings from the grammar and punctuation police. I have not yet been accused of possessing a recto-cranial inversion, but I do suffer the indignities of the daily commute.
Least Coast drivers (Massachusetts in particular) are a microcosm of the rudeness that is overtaking the previously civilized world. Everyone has her story: left turn from right hand lane is routine and ordinary. Those who pull into the lane of oncoming traffic because something is blocking their lane? Instead of stopping? Yeah. The city is filled with indignant pedestrians who are crossing the street with no cross-walk, and against the light. They shake various digits at puzzled drivers who have had to slam on their brakes. The list is endless. So are the indignities, and the anger.
Now it is amongst our bloggers and knitters. I can't control their behavior, but I try to understand so I can defuse my pique.
No data exists to prove my theories. The experiments needed would be expensive, uncomfortable and unethical. My thesis is that the responsibility for the epidemic of visible bad behavior lies with cell phones and iPods.
Stay with me. What's different about our daily life? We are constantly connected. The cell phone, enough by itself, is now a means to continual communication and internet connection. Our nervous system is never at rest during the waking hours. The synapses are constantly being stimulated and worked. Either we are doing business on the cell in our cars, or we are arguing with our mate over who can pick up the kids, or we are arguing with our kids over....something. Whatever. iPods have the same hyperstimulation effect on our neural connections. If you aren't listening to something you can fall asleep to, your neural pathways are firing and tiring, then depleting.
What happens to a baby when he is hyperstimulated? He tires quickly. He fusses. Small frustrations make him scream and wave his small fists in helpless rage. Nothing soothes him except the slam-dunk into bed.
So it is with adults. We tire quickly. Confrontations in comments are the equivalent of waving our small fists. Impatience rules our behaviors. When we are in a car, we pull out in front of other drivers. Our needs come first and only. There is nothing inconsistent or impossible about developing technology beyond which our brains are able to cope. Our neural pathways were developed several thousands of years ago for an environment with far less stimulation. We are not evolved to evolve beyond that in a few short decades.
This rudeness won't go away. We aren't getting enough sleep to compensate for what is happening to our neurotransmitters. We can fill our cups with fiber (as sadly blogless Manise has often commented), but that only takes care of small numbers of us.
It's something to think about.
I do have an FO to show. I haven't blogged it because a. it's a been there-done that item, as Cassie pointed out today, and b. I'm not feeling the love. I wore these Feather&Fan socks in my Uggs at SPA, and experienced feet and ankles covered with mesh. It wasn't a happy experience. The yarn was lovely during the knitting. I can only hope that normal shoes will feel better.
Pattern: Feather & Fan from SocksSocksSocks
Yarn: Lisa Souza Sock!, Pacific colorway
Needles: Crystal Palace 1.5s