I wouldn’t say that I resent the presence of other people – I can be quite sociable at times – it’s just that I’d quite like it if about ninety-nine percent of those I encounter didn’t exist, or rather that they did, but a very long way away from me. Somewhere remote would be nice, somewhere with no means of contacting me or affecting my life in any way.
It sounds churlish, and it is, but I’m genuinely tired of having to tolerate people who are both rude and ignorant, I’m tired of people who can’t bring themselves to say ‘please’ or ‘thank you’ and I’m fucking sick of people who strut about like they own the place, but most of all, I’m tired of a society where people are afraid to stand up for themselves because they’re frightened of the repercussions.
For example; I caught the bus into town on Saturday night – not something I’m ferociously keen on, they’re dirty, slow and expensive – and was subjected to the joys of whatever-the-fuck-it-is-that-chavs-listen-to because some spud-faced chancer had decided that loud and irritating music was precisely what this particular journey needed. I’m sure this is a situation that you’re familiar with, an angry and bewildered looking scrote, mobile in hand, upsetting people with ears and talking some bizarre language comprised of grunts, faux-patois and ‘innit’, it’s fucking exasperating.
What’s worse though, what’s so very modern British, is that the rest of the passengers sat and muttered to themselves and tried to ignore the clamouring gibberish instead of doing what I did and asking, politely, if they’d mind either turning the volume down, or waiting until they were off the bus.
Naturally this got me called all sorts of things, because that’s what you do when someone makes a polite request and you’re a wanker, you kick off and start swearing. In fact, you get so angry and obnoxious at being asked to do something reasonable that you get yourself ejected from the bus and are forced to walk in the rain while a bus full of people laugh at you.
Which is the really sad thing to be honest, not this one man’s behaviour; he’s probably always been an idiot and’ll never change, but the rest of the people on the bus? What’s their excuse? None of them’d speak up while there was a danger of becoming ‘involved’ but as soon as they’re safe, everyone’s a hero. I despair, I really do.
The only problem nowadays is that you never know if you’re going to get knifed in the head, beaten to death or shot. Think about that guy on the bus who asked another bloke to stop throwing chips at his girlfriend and got killed for his troubles.
I also despair of this country, but unfortunately don’t see how things are going to get better any time soon
The thing is, being afraid to stand up, en masse, is part of the problem. Everyone on the bus became a hero as soon as they were safe, what use is that?
I acknowledge that there are risks, but shying away from them only makes things worse. Ultimately, there’s more decent people than there are tossers.