The giggle loop
It's
always good to walk in nature with your eyes open, since especially in
the subway system you often get to see interesting people. I think my
all time favourites were a boy and a woman I took to be his mom. The
boy was about thirteen, while his mom tried to look like and act like
she was thirteen. This pair was a truly hilarious sight, so I kept
secretly watching them across the car, trying really hard not to start
laughing or make them notice me.
Another day when I was sitting alone in a subway car, a muscular guy stepped in dressed in some kungfu-karate club outfit. Of course, there was a big and colourful decorative dragon patterned on his back. Instead of sitting down in one of the empty seats, the guy stood near the doorway and took some kind of fighting readiness stance, trying to look dangerous and alert. I did my best not to look him in the eye and firmly held my teeth together so that I wouldn't laugh. Good thing I had only two stops to go before I got off the train.
Another time, as I walked through the turnstile, I saw three black people laughing really hard, as if somebody had told them a good joke. I wondered what kind of joke would have been that good, but then I noticed a white guy nearby, wearing the hat of a Confederate soldier. I have to wonder if these two things were somehow connected.
You sometimes see homeless people in the cars, begging for money. One of them was quite an educational experience, a young black woman who instead of the normal begging patter, used the words and a tone of voice that a normal middle-class person might use if she was in serious trouble. Her voice was somehow very commanding and she looked people in the eye. This technique was very effective and caught many people off guard to give her money, since they got so many mixed messages at the same time that they didn't know how to react so their brain essentially shut down. This whole show was so eye-opening and educational that I was actually tempted to ignore my policy to never give money to beggars. That woman would probably have been a very good actress or a con artist, if her life had gone differently. Hard drugs are truly a horrible thing.
Speaking of bums, one time I took a walking trip through Rosedale and followed the valley that separates it from Bloor, finally ending up at Don Valley Boulevard. Along the way, I noticed that many homeless people live under the bridges that cross high over the valley I was walking in. I couldn't help but wonder if their edgy and mainstream-rejecting lifestyle is similar to that depicted in that one William Gibson novel. Anyway, I then wanted to head back downtown, and discovered a staircase heading that way, so I climbed it. At the top of the stairs, I heard voices of several bums, making me a bit worried. One young bum, who was very charismatic and handsome (give him some money and he would have been a bad boy that girls fall for) asked me a cigarette. I apologized and said that I don't smoke, which made him smile and say thanks anyway. Just by what I saw during the few seconds, he must have been some kind of King Bum, the best of the worst. I bet that there is some interesting story there.
One time in a Mississauga bus system I witnessed an event suitable for Overheard in New York. A young mother was travelling with his son who was about five. During the trip, mother's demeanour kept oscillating between the two extremes so that one moment, the kid's antics made her laugh heartily, and then a minute later, about equal antics made her really angry. At one point, the kid started this a really annoying laughter, and despite mom's pleas, just didn't stop. Mom finally pinched the kid painfully, which made him stop and almost cry. Mom cracked a happy smile and said to the kid "See, now I'm laughing." At that point, she wasn't the only one.
Another day we were on a local bus with a young black mother with her kid sitting near the front. When the kid inquired why they were going to Square One (a huge local mall), the mom thought for a moment and then answered deadpan "Because Square One is where it all happens. That's where it's at." The bus driver heard this and was laughing so hard I was worried for a moment that we'll stay on the road. Well, I guess you had to be there.
One time at the subway there was an underclass teen male, his general appearance straight out of Theodore Dalrymple's articles, sitting or actualy lying so wide that he took two seats and kept his legs on the third seat in front of him, in an otherwise full car. He seemed to be sleeping behind his sunglasses. A round woman with really short hair and big round glasses, wearing Birkenstocks with no socks while otherwise fully covered in clothing, came in (actually, if you imagine John Byrne drawing such a woman, that was exactly what she looked like), probably coming from a meeting of Friends of the Earth or something, and of course couldn't find a seat. So she gently pushed the teen's legs down from the seat.
The teen got really angry about this and told the woman to ask and apologize before touching him and making him move. The woman sat quietly, staring the opposite wall with her face frozen. After a moment, she suddenly turned to the teen and explained that he shouldn't keep his legs on a seat so that others also get to sit. After a few stations of very uncomfortable silence, the teen suddenly started muttering that he can't even tell if she is a man or a woman. This apparently stung hard, since the woman suddenly looked quite sad and shocked, almost like she was about to cry. She dug a piece of snot out of her nose and flipped it towards the teen's face. The teen starting cursing like a sailor, so the woman got up and walked to the conductor booth. At the next station, the conductor and the woman walked to the teen, and the woman explained that the teen had threatened her. The situation was cleared by the teen leaving the car, muttering something that I couldn't really hear.
(Obligatory right-wing rant:) I wasn't quite sure if I had witnessed some kind of hate crime there, but it reminded me nicely of an internal contradiction that is inherent in the leftist ideology. You see, unlike in the movies, in the real world the underclass, the poor and the lower working classes generally hold the most bigoted attitudes and commit most of the hate crimes, while rich aristocratic and blond villains are virtually nonexistent. The poorer you get, the less likely you are to be enlightened and tolerant towards any kind of diversity. This poses a huge problem for leftists who have to idealize the proletariat and the lumpenproletariat for their ideological reasons. (Yeah, yeah, I know: these groups have a "false consciousness" because of the capitalist-patriarchal brainwash.) One solution, of course, is to stay away from the real underclass and interact with the few edgy hipsters who pose like they are poor.
Another example of the same phenomenon was an article few years ago in the local free leftist rag (crap, I can't find the link any more) that explained that the policy of decreasing the presence of cops and having them not harassing the street youth had made the street youth congregate in the gay part of the town, making many gay people afraid to walk around there. The presence of young thugs had especially hurt the cafeterias with patios. Could somebody please remind me again why gay people are presumed to be politically leftist, or why it would be in their best interests to have the leftist ideology gain more power?
Another day when I was sitting alone in a subway car, a muscular guy stepped in dressed in some kungfu-karate club outfit. Of course, there was a big and colourful decorative dragon patterned on his back. Instead of sitting down in one of the empty seats, the guy stood near the doorway and took some kind of fighting readiness stance, trying to look dangerous and alert. I did my best not to look him in the eye and firmly held my teeth together so that I wouldn't laugh. Good thing I had only two stops to go before I got off the train.
Another time, as I walked through the turnstile, I saw three black people laughing really hard, as if somebody had told them a good joke. I wondered what kind of joke would have been that good, but then I noticed a white guy nearby, wearing the hat of a Confederate soldier. I have to wonder if these two things were somehow connected.
You sometimes see homeless people in the cars, begging for money. One of them was quite an educational experience, a young black woman who instead of the normal begging patter, used the words and a tone of voice that a normal middle-class person might use if she was in serious trouble. Her voice was somehow very commanding and she looked people in the eye. This technique was very effective and caught many people off guard to give her money, since they got so many mixed messages at the same time that they didn't know how to react so their brain essentially shut down. This whole show was so eye-opening and educational that I was actually tempted to ignore my policy to never give money to beggars. That woman would probably have been a very good actress or a con artist, if her life had gone differently. Hard drugs are truly a horrible thing.
Speaking of bums, one time I took a walking trip through Rosedale and followed the valley that separates it from Bloor, finally ending up at Don Valley Boulevard. Along the way, I noticed that many homeless people live under the bridges that cross high over the valley I was walking in. I couldn't help but wonder if their edgy and mainstream-rejecting lifestyle is similar to that depicted in that one William Gibson novel. Anyway, I then wanted to head back downtown, and discovered a staircase heading that way, so I climbed it. At the top of the stairs, I heard voices of several bums, making me a bit worried. One young bum, who was very charismatic and handsome (give him some money and he would have been a bad boy that girls fall for) asked me a cigarette. I apologized and said that I don't smoke, which made him smile and say thanks anyway. Just by what I saw during the few seconds, he must have been some kind of King Bum, the best of the worst. I bet that there is some interesting story there.
One time in a Mississauga bus system I witnessed an event suitable for Overheard in New York. A young mother was travelling with his son who was about five. During the trip, mother's demeanour kept oscillating between the two extremes so that one moment, the kid's antics made her laugh heartily, and then a minute later, about equal antics made her really angry. At one point, the kid started this a really annoying laughter, and despite mom's pleas, just didn't stop. Mom finally pinched the kid painfully, which made him stop and almost cry. Mom cracked a happy smile and said to the kid "See, now I'm laughing." At that point, she wasn't the only one.
Another day we were on a local bus with a young black mother with her kid sitting near the front. When the kid inquired why they were going to Square One (a huge local mall), the mom thought for a moment and then answered deadpan "Because Square One is where it all happens. That's where it's at." The bus driver heard this and was laughing so hard I was worried for a moment that we'll stay on the road. Well, I guess you had to be there.
One time at the subway there was an underclass teen male, his general appearance straight out of Theodore Dalrymple's articles, sitting or actualy lying so wide that he took two seats and kept his legs on the third seat in front of him, in an otherwise full car. He seemed to be sleeping behind his sunglasses. A round woman with really short hair and big round glasses, wearing Birkenstocks with no socks while otherwise fully covered in clothing, came in (actually, if you imagine John Byrne drawing such a woman, that was exactly what she looked like), probably coming from a meeting of Friends of the Earth or something, and of course couldn't find a seat. So she gently pushed the teen's legs down from the seat.
The teen got really angry about this and told the woman to ask and apologize before touching him and making him move. The woman sat quietly, staring the opposite wall with her face frozen. After a moment, she suddenly turned to the teen and explained that he shouldn't keep his legs on a seat so that others also get to sit. After a few stations of very uncomfortable silence, the teen suddenly started muttering that he can't even tell if she is a man or a woman. This apparently stung hard, since the woman suddenly looked quite sad and shocked, almost like she was about to cry. She dug a piece of snot out of her nose and flipped it towards the teen's face. The teen starting cursing like a sailor, so the woman got up and walked to the conductor booth. At the next station, the conductor and the woman walked to the teen, and the woman explained that the teen had threatened her. The situation was cleared by the teen leaving the car, muttering something that I couldn't really hear.
(Obligatory right-wing rant:) I wasn't quite sure if I had witnessed some kind of hate crime there, but it reminded me nicely of an internal contradiction that is inherent in the leftist ideology. You see, unlike in the movies, in the real world the underclass, the poor and the lower working classes generally hold the most bigoted attitudes and commit most of the hate crimes, while rich aristocratic and blond villains are virtually nonexistent. The poorer you get, the less likely you are to be enlightened and tolerant towards any kind of diversity. This poses a huge problem for leftists who have to idealize the proletariat and the lumpenproletariat for their ideological reasons. (Yeah, yeah, I know: these groups have a "false consciousness" because of the capitalist-patriarchal brainwash.) One solution, of course, is to stay away from the real underclass and interact with the few edgy hipsters who pose like they are poor.
Another example of the same phenomenon was an article few years ago in the local free leftist rag (crap, I can't find the link any more) that explained that the policy of decreasing the presence of cops and having them not harassing the street youth had made the street youth congregate in the gay part of the town, making many gay people afraid to walk around there. The presence of young thugs had especially hurt the cafeterias with patios. Could somebody please remind me again why gay people are presumed to be politically leftist, or why it would be in their best interests to have the leftist ideology gain more power?
I seriously doubt that gay people are more leftist than anyone else. The presupposition may be due to the "right-wing = conservative christian"-equation in the US.
Most gay people I know are not particularly leftist.
Posted by Tiedemies | 12:24 PM
I seriously doubt that gay people are more leftist than anyone else.
Gay men, not really, but lesbians are different. Most of them are very definitely on the political left, at least in the United States.
Peter
Lirn Rails & Iron Weights
Posted by Anonymous | 1:56 PM