Suitably Flip

It's Right To Be Gauche

In New York, we may soon be getting wired up underground.  A lot of people are wringing their hands about the pending demise of subterranean civility, as once-peaceful straphangers become bemused gabbers and blackberry thumbers.  I say bring it on.

The 10, 20, 30 minutes or more we spend underground going to and from work every day (when our friendly neighborhood MTA employees are feeling conscientious that is) is perfect timing to catch up on correspondence.  Check your voice mail, fire off a couple e-mails, call your mom, whatever.  The city's subways are often too crowded to unfurl even a tabloid-size newspaper without annexing several co-occupants' space, but a hand to your ear and a quiet mumble into the handset can almost always be pulled off.

Is there opportunity for annoyance at the hands (tongues) of the occasional blowhard?  Of course.  But as with just about any public setting, anywhere an inconsiderate might cause a scene jawing on a cell phone, said inconsiderate might equally cause a scene chatting up a companion.  Cell phones in theaters are a contemptible nuisance.  But so are people that talk at full volume in theaters.  The same goes for cell phones on long elevator rides, in meetings, at state dinners, in the midst of negotiating peace accords, etc.  The fact of the matter is rude people are rude.  Almost by definition.  They don't need technology to enable their causticity.  They're liable to be noisy and imposing, equally oblivious whether they've brought their babble partners with them in person or via speed dial.

Is it somehow more disturbing to hear only one side of a fatuous conversation?  Well okay, to me, sometimes it is.  But that's only because I'm prone to eavesdropping and I'm frustrated by not being able to follow along with the absurdity.  Otherwise, enduring a nearby cell conversation is more aggravating than conventional conversation only to the extent that you decide you want to be disturbed by it.  And that kind of makes you one of those people that maligns technology because you think it's fashionable to do so.  Don't be one of those people. (You're one of those people if you've used the term "rat race" or "commercialism" or "good little consumers" in the last month without setting an ironic tone.)

All of my points are good ones, but the most self-evident slam dunk for wiring up the subway tunnels is safety.  Cell service was spotty on September 11, but for a lot of people, it provided a crucial link.  It only makes sense for a densely populated island borough, which happens to be a terrorist focal point, to facilitate communication to and from its public transit network.

The very real logistical benefits that could be reaped in any number of city-wide emergencies certainly ought to outweigh our suffering the occasional loudmouth on a 6 train.  The productivity gains to be responsibly enjoyed by discreet, neighbor-conscious riders are just gravy.

Comments

It's Right To Be Gauche

In New York, we may soon be getting wired up underground.  A lot of people are wringing their hands about the pending demise of subterranean civility, as once-peaceful straphangers become bemused gabbers and blackberry thumbers.  I say bring it on.

The 10, 20, 30 minutes or more we spend underground going to and from work every day (when our friendly neighborhood MTA employees are feeling conscientious that is) is perfect timing to catch up on correspondence.  Check your voice mail, fire off a couple e-mails, call your mom, whatever.  The city's subways are often too crowded to unfurl even a tabloid-size newspaper without annexing several co-occupants' space, but a hand to your ear and a quiet mumble into the handset can almost always be pulled off.

Is there opportunity for annoyance at the hands (tongues) of the occasional blowhard?  Of course.  But as with just about any public setting, anywhere an inconsiderate might cause a scene jawing on a cell phone, said inconsiderate might equally cause a scene chatting up a companion.  Cell phones in theaters are a contemptible nuisance.  But so are people that talk at full volume in theaters.  The same goes for cell phones on long elevator rides, in meetings, at state dinners, in the midst of negotiating peace accords, etc.  The fact of the matter is rude people are rude.  Almost by definition.  They don't need technology to enable their causticity.  They're liable to be noisy and imposing, equally oblivious whether they've brought their babble partners with them in person or via speed dial.

Is it somehow more disturbing to hear only one side of a fatuous conversation?  Well okay, to me, sometimes it is.  But that's only because I'm prone to eavesdropping and I'm frustrated by not being able to follow along with the absurdity.  Otherwise, enduring a nearby cell conversation is more aggravating than conventional conversation only to the extent that you decide you want to be disturbed by it.  And that kind of makes you one of those people that maligns technology because you think it's fashionable to do so.  Don't be one of those people. (You're one of those people if you've used the term "rat race" or "commercialism" or "good little consumers" in the last month without setting an ironic tone.)

All of my points are good ones, but the most self-evident slam dunk for wiring up the subway tunnels is safety.  Cell service was spotty on September 11, but for a lot of people, it provided a crucial link.  It only makes sense for a densely populated island borough, which happens to be a terrorist focal point, to facilitate communication to and from its public transit network.

The very real logistical benefits that could be reaped in any number of city-wide emergencies certainly ought to outweigh our suffering the occasional loudmouth on a 6 train.  The productivity gains to be responsibly enjoyed by discreet, neighbor-conscious riders are just gravy.