Laws make for ill-mannered idiots
One of the biggest differences I noticed between living in the U.S. and living abroad is the number of stupid laws made here and signs to inform you of all of them and those other things the control freaks want you to know.
Go to any park or into an underground MUNI station to see what I mean. No smoking, no pets, no offleash pets, no loitering, no camping, no panhandling, no vending, no solicitig, stay to the right, yield seats for handicapped and elderly, stay behind yellow line, no unauthorized personally, don't touch the third fucking rail.
O RLY?
Since returning from Europe -- where there are relatively few of these things -- I've been tormented by the condescension. But there was something else; some other reason it bothered me. Upon reading this (via ydnar), it hit me:
The Drachten Experiment
Think of Drachten, where they removed all of the traffic lights and stop signs, based on the work of the late Hans Monderman. "The many rules strip us of the most important thing: the ability to be considerate. We're losing our capacity for socially responsible behavior," says Monderman. "The greater the number of prescriptions, the more people's sense of personal responsibility dwindles."
That's it. Making sure that Everything You Need to Know is written on the walls and signs around you creates an environment where an individual is essentially absolved of the full breadth of things that make us good neighbors and educated well-mannered citizens. When communities try to hold their people and way of life together with tactics akin to passive-aggressive sticky notes on the refrigerator, we all become lesser co-habitators.
I don't need a sign to tell me to give my seat on the bus to those who need it. I don't need a sign to tell me to pick up my dog's shit. I don't need a sign to tell me not to jump down onto the track of the BART train and touch the third-goddamned rail. These things should be completely and utterly obvious and ingrained in everyone. And if the failing of our society seems imminent without these prescriptions, then perhaps a few third rail surprises might actually help us all.
Comments
This post was some food for thought though.
By the way, JUST after I posted this, one of my points were proven when some guy -- bolstered by some new signs in Duboce park -- yelled at me because my dog and I walked through the very recently-created and empty "no dog" zone of the park on the way to the part where they are allowed. In the process she stopped to pee once and he tried to tell me that "we in the neighborhood" (as if I don't live one block away) are trying to keep that area clean for humans. I informed him that the sprinklers that they run for an hour every night will do a fine job of washing away that two ounces of sterile urine my dog created and I put my headphones back in and walked on even as he kept talking.
For the record, the main reason that they zoned that off was to give kids a place to play and people to have picnics without worry about overly enthusiastic or possibly aggressive dogs. Rogue piles of poop are certainly a secondary consideration but pee? These sorts of rules and signs give people the ability to act like asses and try to exert some form of control over others regardless of whether or not it's warranted.
I'm tired of people...
"No shitting"
I saw this sign at some park, but they could of used it in the trains. My first trip on the new subway in Shanghai (over ten years ago), a kid squats down in the middle of a crowded train and starts to relieve himself. This was a common thing I saw walking along sidewalks. . .so I'm sure kids needed to be told where they could squat and where they shouldn't.