(no subject)
So I just got off the 70 bus, from Downtown to U District via Eastlake. I currently live on Eastlake. I got on the bus downtown at 3rd and Pike. The stop after, a (*cough* blackafricanamerican*cough*; more on this later) lady tugging along her preschool age daughter flags down the bus and gets on, all while talking loudly about her day on her cell phone.
I noticed that when I got on the bus, pretty much everybody was sitting quietly reading and/or listening to headphones. It wasn't crowded, there were one or two people talking quietly on their cell phones, but the sound of traffic and the bus itself drowned them out. Not this lady. Without concentrating, I could hear each and every vocal nuance of her conversation, and easily infer as to what whoever she was talking to was saying. In addition to this, she was cursing sporadically. Not to say she was working out a blue streak, but she had no fear of punctuating and emphasizing with "shit" and "fuck".
The driver soon started to take offense to this, and used the intercom to ask the lady to quiet down, and to stop cursing. She paid attention, and said, for the benefit of the driver and presumably all us fellow passengers, "I'm sorry, excuse me." I believe, from the tone of her voice, that she was sincere.
Nonetheless, she continued to talk loudly, though now with fewer instances of cursing. The driver came on the intercom again, and asked her to please keep her conversation to herself.
Something must have been touched off here, for here began a rant that continued until well after I was out of earshot. The (semi) controlled fury of this woman was impressive. She began to berate the bus driver, for scolding her, treating her as a child, presuming upon her phone conversation, infringing on her right to use public transportation, and so on. He stopped the bus at Denny, made a call on the radio, and exchanged some (still, both sides remarkably composed) statements about appropriateness of this woman's behavior. Her arguments were myriad: She had just worked an 8 hour day, she paid the fare like everybody else, she didn't pay her phone bill to not use it, bus drivers are draconian and come up with rules as they suit them, he can go ahead and call in a complaint, she knows somebody at the complaint center. He, for the most part, just repeated his earlier warnings about quieting down, respecting the other passengers, and that his supervisor would be there shortly. He showed up, a third party entered the fray, the woman got off the bus to talk with him, the supervisor mediated, and the bus driver was allowed to leave, sans loud lady and child.
On a surface level, I was kind of alarmed at this woman's behavior. She didn't scream, or launch ad hominem attacks, but the persistence of her argument, and her refusal to agree to anything the bus driver was saying struck me oddly. She believed that, having paid the fare, it was her right to ride public transportation, and to do so as she sees fit. Similarly, as she paid for the phone, she could use it as she saw fit. And since she was an adult, with full responsibility for her actions, she could talk as loudly as she wished. Pretty much, she was using the tired playground defense of "it's a free country, I can do whatever I want." It startled me to see how persistent she was using this line of argument, ignoring the other side of the coin that says, in a free society, we also all have to put up with each other's freedoms, so let's tone it down a little when you're among people who might feel your freedom is infringing on their freedom.
During all of this, all of the other passengers were silent. I'll note now, as I hinted at above, that all the rest of us were your usual grab-bag of whites, including the driver. I was sitting there, half reading and half thinking about this situation and what it says about Seattlites, and race, and Seattlites and race.
My first thought was, "Man, she must not be from around here." Seattle is somewhat known for being kind of impersonal, kind of detached, very polite and quiet. It's not unusual for people to declaim this, saying Seattilites are cold, distant, and superficial. As a Seattlite, though, I don't think of it this way. We have a culture that says "I won't get into your business, and you won't get into mine." I'm fine with that. I would much rather be left alone than bombarded with friendliness. I guess this is just the same sort of prejudice as there is against the introverted or shy. Somehow, as a city, cause we're not collectively eager to slap a hand on somebody's back and buy 'em a beer, we're flawed. Personally, as an introvert, I always found the presumption that you have to be friendly and sociable in all public settings incomprehensible. That's just not how I work, and there's nothing wrong about that.
Then I got to thinking about the racial aspect of this. As a member of the white male oligarchy, I was taking my own thoughts simultaneously with a grain of salt and with the stubborn insistence that just because, I, Mac, am both of European descent and possess a Y chromosome and all of the characteristics associated with it does not mean my opinion is in some way invalid. It got me to wondering about the woman's situation, why she talks so loud, why she has a daughter, why why why. Was everybody quiet because we were afraid she was going to invoke the Race Card? And how does this fit in with the Seattle quiet thing, and our heavy majority of whiteness? Lots of gears spinning, belts turning, coolant churning.
So, what now?
I noticed that when I got on the bus, pretty much everybody was sitting quietly reading and/or listening to headphones. It wasn't crowded, there were one or two people talking quietly on their cell phones, but the sound of traffic and the bus itself drowned them out. Not this lady. Without concentrating, I could hear each and every vocal nuance of her conversation, and easily infer as to what whoever she was talking to was saying. In addition to this, she was cursing sporadically. Not to say she was working out a blue streak, but she had no fear of punctuating and emphasizing with "shit" and "fuck".
The driver soon started to take offense to this, and used the intercom to ask the lady to quiet down, and to stop cursing. She paid attention, and said, for the benefit of the driver and presumably all us fellow passengers, "I'm sorry, excuse me." I believe, from the tone of her voice, that she was sincere.
Nonetheless, she continued to talk loudly, though now with fewer instances of cursing. The driver came on the intercom again, and asked her to please keep her conversation to herself.
Something must have been touched off here, for here began a rant that continued until well after I was out of earshot. The (semi) controlled fury of this woman was impressive. She began to berate the bus driver, for scolding her, treating her as a child, presuming upon her phone conversation, infringing on her right to use public transportation, and so on. He stopped the bus at Denny, made a call on the radio, and exchanged some (still, both sides remarkably composed) statements about appropriateness of this woman's behavior. Her arguments were myriad: She had just worked an 8 hour day, she paid the fare like everybody else, she didn't pay her phone bill to not use it, bus drivers are draconian and come up with rules as they suit them, he can go ahead and call in a complaint, she knows somebody at the complaint center. He, for the most part, just repeated his earlier warnings about quieting down, respecting the other passengers, and that his supervisor would be there shortly. He showed up, a third party entered the fray, the woman got off the bus to talk with him, the supervisor mediated, and the bus driver was allowed to leave, sans loud lady and child.
On a surface level, I was kind of alarmed at this woman's behavior. She didn't scream, or launch ad hominem attacks, but the persistence of her argument, and her refusal to agree to anything the bus driver was saying struck me oddly. She believed that, having paid the fare, it was her right to ride public transportation, and to do so as she sees fit. Similarly, as she paid for the phone, she could use it as she saw fit. And since she was an adult, with full responsibility for her actions, she could talk as loudly as she wished. Pretty much, she was using the tired playground defense of "it's a free country, I can do whatever I want." It startled me to see how persistent she was using this line of argument, ignoring the other side of the coin that says, in a free society, we also all have to put up with each other's freedoms, so let's tone it down a little when you're among people who might feel your freedom is infringing on their freedom.
During all of this, all of the other passengers were silent. I'll note now, as I hinted at above, that all the rest of us were your usual grab-bag of whites, including the driver. I was sitting there, half reading and half thinking about this situation and what it says about Seattlites, and race, and Seattlites and race.
My first thought was, "Man, she must not be from around here." Seattle is somewhat known for being kind of impersonal, kind of detached, very polite and quiet. It's not unusual for people to declaim this, saying Seattilites are cold, distant, and superficial. As a Seattlite, though, I don't think of it this way. We have a culture that says "I won't get into your business, and you won't get into mine." I'm fine with that. I would much rather be left alone than bombarded with friendliness. I guess this is just the same sort of prejudice as there is against the introverted or shy. Somehow, as a city, cause we're not collectively eager to slap a hand on somebody's back and buy 'em a beer, we're flawed. Personally, as an introvert, I always found the presumption that you have to be friendly and sociable in all public settings incomprehensible. That's just not how I work, and there's nothing wrong about that.
Then I got to thinking about the racial aspect of this. As a member of the white male oligarchy, I was taking my own thoughts simultaneously with a grain of salt and with the stubborn insistence that just because, I, Mac, am both of European descent and possess a Y chromosome and all of the characteristics associated with it does not mean my opinion is in some way invalid. It got me to wondering about the woman's situation, why she talks so loud, why she has a daughter, why why why. Was everybody quiet because we were afraid she was going to invoke the Race Card? And how does this fit in with the Seattle quiet thing, and our heavy majority of whiteness? Lots of gears spinning, belts turning, coolant churning.
So, what now?