# Blowin' In The Wind



## Úlairi (Apr 12, 2009)

Seeing as "the Man" closed down the previous one:



> *Blowin' In the Wind by Bob Dylan*
> 
> _How many roads must a man walk down
> Before you call him a man?
> ...


 
Once again people without getting too political, what inherent truths do you believe to be circulating out there...blowin' in the wind? What can mankind do to alleviate the pain and suffering of others around him? 

This thread is intended to be a place where fat can be chewed over numerous topics that we personally feel are so easily solveable and yet people are so blind to what's in front of them to the point that they're actually closing their eyes...

I'll be interested to see what people will have to say, if anything.

Here's one:

Where I catch the bus from the city back to my home people often queue to get onto the bus when there is no legal requirement to. There are the "select few" that don't blindly follow the herd and sit at the wall and await the bus' arrival. Once the bus arrives these non-conformists rise and jump in front of the self-regulated queue ultimately defeating the entire purpose of it in the first place. 

I must admit that I am one of the non-conformist wall-people but that occasionally I feel guilty butting infront of people but I also justify it on the basis that people seem to be so much like sheep that the Darwinian principle indeed sees that the fittest survive. Why is it that people need to form an orderly line that frustrates its own purpose? Are we that socially conditioned by society that we'll do almost anything we're told? Should I feel guilty for jumping in front? There are times where I am the first to arrive at the bus as I may just miss the previous one by a minute or two. I don't stand first in line in a self-created queue but do as I always do and sit beside the wall and watch others in sheer confused amazement as they re-create this redundant entity. Thus there are times where I am actually entitled to be the first on the bus but I still "appear" to jump in line. 

Am I being rude and immoral or am I simply just refusing to conform to utterly needless self-perpetuated maxims of society?

Another less cogent example is where people stand at traffic lights waiting for the "walk" sign to illuminate when there is naught a car in sight and I simply walk right on by them. What's the deal with these people? Perhaps a better question is: are you one of them? Another important question is: Should I be?

*Cheers,*

*Úlairi.*


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## HLGStrider (Apr 12, 2009)

On a side not, I need to figure out which key it is that my daughter can press where it automatically refreshes my entire screen deleting everything I've spent time typing. . .that key must be removed from this keyboard.

I am in full agreement on the flashing "walk" signs. Look both ways and go is far more efficient except in really huge San Diego intersections where people are going sixty and I'm about to have a heart attack . . . my husband makes fun of me because I never "walk" in crosswalks, but run as fast as my little legs can carry me. 

However, I don't think the forming of lines is a sheeplike tendancy. Not being from your home town a big user of public transportation, I don't have this particular experience to back me up, but I have seen people form lines in front of movie theaters before they are open for the day, or restaurants, even though there is technically no "law" that says they have to do so. 

I think people realize that to deal with other people without conflict you have to accept certain rules, one of which is generally first come, first serve. The guy who got to the movie theater an hour early should get his tickets before the guy who got there fifteen minutes early even if there is no way to enforce this or no sign saying it should be . . . and a line is a way to keep track of this.

It's kind of like a four way stop (without the obvious patrol car waiting to ticket you if you run the sign), one with an old fashioned stop sign rather than a timed light. If everyone just goes whenever they see an opening, you will have multiple cars going at once, and even if your car has the power to accelerate out of the wreck, it could cause havoc and chaos, so you follow the rules as they have been set out.

The line is simply a non-enforced, naturally occuring thing where people think they can save a place and avoid a lot of pushing and shoving fighting for seats if they make up a line. As a smaller person, I'm not really a big fan of having to push my way anywhere. 

It seems every Christmas we get stories of terrible rushes to buy some "must have" toy or other and this year someone got trampled to death. It makes me think people are less and less willing to accept the little niceties that keep us from killing each other.

No, it really doesn't hurt when someone cuts you off once or won't share his toy twice. I just think a general air of deference to other people works wonders to keep us from going at each other with clubs.

Sometimes it is good to do the "if everyone did it" question. Sometimes this is stupid like when I was on a nature hike as a kid and some silly grownup wouldn't let me take a sample of the pond water to look at under a microscope because "if everyone did it there wouldn't be any pond left," but other times it is a good question to ask. Sure, if one or two people skip to the head of the line it causes annoyance, but how many people would it take rushing to the head of the line before you have too many trying to get on that way at once and it really does turn into a brawl? 

That said, my husband is a little bit more like you. He had this story from last Blizzcon (WoW convention in Southern California, yeah, I married a geek) where he got there forty minutes before the doors to the convention center were supposed to open and a long line had already formed, so he went to the head of the line, tried the door, and it opened . . . so he went in. I guess someone got annoyed at him for doing this and yelled at him, but my husband is 6'5'' and tends to assume that people he meets aren't carrying concealed weapons, which is something I've been meaning to talk to him about.

The point being that occasionally one timid person at the front of the line who doesn't think to try the handle can be holding up a line, but I'm sure after Matt opened the door the line continued inside in an orderly fashion, simply because it is really bad to tick of a bunch of online gamers on their way to their next MMORPG fix.


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